Winter Mansion
by smokeydirtcat
Summary: It's winter break and Echizen has to spend a week with Rikkaidai, Seigaku and his brother. When he blanks out during practice, he sees a lady in a bloody dress. When Ryoga comes to visit, he tells them that they will all spend the break together in her house. Will everyone be able to survive a straight week with each other or are greater forces at work? Some OOC now and then.
1. One Morning

**Third story! Milestone reached! Naw, just kidding. Milestones are reached **_**muuuuch**_** later in the story writing career. **

**Hey guys! How's it been? Finished my second story like two days ago and am ready to start the next one. Hopefully, it won't be like the other one where updates were erratic and had no set date on when they were coming out. I'll do like three chapters ahead so that it won't happen. I'm going to say that you should expect updates every week or so.**

**Bear with me, in this story it's going to snow where they live. If that's not the right region for it to snow, oh well now it is. Help me out with the characterization of the Rikkaidai Regulars so I get their personalities right!**

**And just for the hell of it, and for this story to make more sense, maybe, I want to make everyone older. All third years will be 19, second years 18 and first years 16. No real reason for doing this, it shouldn't change the story but for later chapters to work, they all need to be older. So, think of them being in high school.**

**Just a heads up, Ryoga's personality in this story won't be like the previous stories. Think of it like 'tough love'. I think he might be a mix of Momo and Kaidou and possibly have a little touch of Fuji but not certain.**

**Also, let's start this again, I DO NOT own Prince of Tennis.  
**

**So, third story, hope it turns out good! Have fun with it!**

* * *

Of the four seasons, Echizen liked winter the best. He liked the cold wind that sent a chill up his spine, he liked being able to curl up on the couch in a warm blanket with Karupin, being able to buy hot chocolate at school; he liked making fun of Momo for forgetting to bring his jacket. But most of all, he loved the snow. Every once in a while he would wake up and look outside to see a thin layer of white outside his window and on the street. When these days approached, he felt a small pleasure in his stomach, though he would never let anyone know.

Echizen woke up that Tuesday morning and the feeling in his stomach grew. Never had he seen this much snow before. There was usually a little on the sides of the street from the snow plow clearing it away so it would be safe for cars to drive but today was different. He got dressed and went downstairs to eat his breakfast.

"Ohayou Ryoma-san." Nanako greeted him with a friendly smile.

"Ohayou." He greeted her back as he took his seat at the table.

"Did you see all the snow outside?" She asked as she set his food in front of him.

"Ah." He answered as he took a bite of egg.

"I've never seen this much before. Oji-san, when was the last time it snowed like this?"

"I've never seen it snow this much. The paper doesn't say anything about it either." Nanjiro said as he flipped a page of the paper. "She doesn't seem to say anything about it either…" he said under his breath.

"Oji-san, are you really reading the paper?" she asked accusingly.

He didn't answer but kept saying things under his breath and staring intensely at the paper. Nanako walked behind him with a frown.

"Mou, Oji-san! If you don't stop reading these, I'll tell your wife!" Nanako reached inside the paper and pulled away one of his magazines.

"Ah! M-Matte Nanako-chan! There's no need to be rash!" he got up from where he was sitting and followed her.

Echizen gave an annoyed yet amused laugh. He looked at the clock, shoved a piece of bread into his mouth and went to the front door. He grabbed his jacket, shoes and bag.

"Ittekimasu." He shouted to his cousin and father.

"Itterasshai." Nanako shouted back as she moved the magazine out of her uncle's reach.

Echizen could hear his father complaining about he always gets picked on and never has time to himself anymore. He sighed and began to walk down the street to the school. The snow that was on the side of the road, which when it snowed was only an inch or so, was now up to Echizen's ankles if not higher. Not before long, he heard Momo calling his name.

"Ooooi! Echizen!" Echizen turned to see Momo speeding his way on his bike.

"Momo-sempai, if you go that speed on an icy street, you'll crash when you try to stop."

"What?" Momo couldn't hear him. When he tried to slow down, the wheels on his bike slid on the ground and caused him to crash into some bushes in front of someone house.

"Told you so." Echizen said nonchalantly as he walked passed Momo.

"Itai!" Momo popped out of the bushes and rubbed the back of his head. "You could at least help up."

"You were warned." He ignored Momo and walked towards school.

"Matte!" Momo picked up his wreck of a bike and caught up to Echizen on their way to school.

* * *

Upon arriving at school, Momo and Echizen were surprised to see the Rikkaidai regulars on their court.

"Ah! What are they doing here?" Momo asked pointing to everyone on the court.

"Momoshiro, Echizen, 25 laps for being late." Tezuka said as he turned from talking to Yukimura.

"Tezuka, with the amount of snow on the ground and Momo's and Echizen's lack of acrobatic skills, there is an 84.7% chance that one or both of them will fall and potentially sprain or break something." Inui popped out of nowhere and started reading from his notebook nearly giving Echizen and Momo a heart attack.

"You are incorrect Sadaharu. My data reveals that there is only an 81.8% chance that something will happen." Renji stood beside him and contradicted Inui's judgment.

"Those two remind me of Momo and Kaidou." Taka said.

"How so?" Hiroshi asked.

"Nya, they both argue about stupid things." Kikumaru said as he hopped on Taka's back. Momo and Kaidou both walked up to him.

"What do you mean 'stupid things' sempai?" Momo looked at him accusingly.

"Fsshhh, the only stupid thing is him." Kaidou pointed to Momo.

"Nani?" Momo glared at him. "Who's the stupid one here?"

"Did I stutter? You are." Kaidou hissed at him.

A vein popped. "You wanna go Baka Mamoshi?!"

"Bring it on you stupid peach!"

"They're acting like children." Sanada said.

"Is it always like this?" Marui asked.

"How can they stand this?" Jackal added.

"Saa, it tends to grow on you after a while." Fuji said with a grin.

"I don't see how you can get use to this…" Niou said as he watched Taka and Oishi pull Momo and Kaidou apart.

"If you ask me, I think that both of them are stupid." Kirihara said.

"What are you saying?" Momo and Kaidou gave him a death glare.

"We think alike Kirihara-sempai." Echizen smirked in his direction.

"Echizen!" Momo and Kaidou tried to jump at him but where stopped my Oishi and Taka.

"Your team seems very lively Tezuka." Yukimura said.

Tezuka gave a small frown then sighed. "Kaidou, join them in their laps."

The three looked at him with disappoint in their eyes. Momo and Echizen had hoped he forgot but knew that he hadn't.

"Buchou, we can't run laps." Momo said in protest. "It's like Inui-sempai said. There's too much snow on the ground and we could slip and injure ourselves." He winked at Echizen. Echizen gave him a 'Do you really think he'll fall for that?' look and sighed.

"We're not practicing outside. We're going to go practice in the gym." Tezuka struck down Momo. "Get changed and meet us there."

"Hai." Momo and Echizen quickly went to the club room and got changed. Instead of just their normal shorts and club shirts, they had pullover hoodies and sweats that they put over their shorts. They returned to everyone just before they went into the gym. Momo's question still wasn't answered.

"Sempai," he went to Kikumaru. "Why is Rikkaidai with us today?"

"Fsshhh, you would've known if you were here on time yesterday." Kaidou hissed at him. Momo glared at him.

"Tezuka said that Rikkaidai wanted to have some matches with us before the break." He replied.

"Why not just have the matches during the break?" Echizen asked.

"Inui predicted that the weather would get worse during that time so we scheduled the matches for today." He looked at the ground. "By the looks for it, Inui could be a weather man."

Momo and Echizen sweat dropped as they went into the gym.

Everyone set their things down and prepared for their matches. While everyone else was doing that, Momo, Echizen and Kaidou stared on their laps. The two older boys were going head to head trying to stay in front of one another while the youngest ran behind them, not wanting to interfere. One thing led to another and somehow they ended up tripping each other. Momo and Kaidou fell to the floor with a slam. Echizen merely jumped over them and kept running. He ran passed them with a smirk.

Momo and Kaidou gave him an annoyed look then glared at each other.

"It's your fault!" they both said to each other.

"How is it my fault?" Momo protested. "You tripped me."

"Fsshhh, you ran in front of me." Kaidou hissed. "If you plan to do that, speed up, don't slow down."

"Momoshiro, Kaidou, keep running or you'll add 10 laps." Tezuka shouted to them.

"Hai." They got off the floor, fixed themselves then started to run again.

"Mada mada dane sempai-tachi." Echizen ran passed them again.

* * *

Upon finishing their laps and joining the others, everyone was assigned a match with someone from the other team. Doubles was taken by Inui and Kaidou vs. Niou and Hiroshi and Oishi and Kikumaru vs. Jackal and Marui. Singles were Taka vs. Renji, Fuji vs. Sanada, and Momo vs. Kirihara. Echizen stood on the sidelines drinking from his can of Ponta with slight curiosity about why he wasn't playing a match with anyone while Tezuka and Yukimura were talking about various things that they have been working on.

Echizen sat on a bench and looked towards a window. They sky was gray but it was a calming gray, like if stared at for too long, it would carry you away. He loved the sight of the clouds, being if there was possibility of it snowing again. He kept staring at the sky and clouds, so much that he blanked out and started seeing an old two story house in front of him.

It had big bushes covered in snow in the front yard with an old iron fence surrounding it. The pillars that were holding the roof up looked at least fifty or more years old. The windows all had the old fashioned shutters that opened on either side and sapphire curtains blowing out of some and black blowing out of others. One of the windows was different from the others. From behind the sapphire curtains, a lady in an old Victorian style dress was seen. The dress was a bright dandelion yellow except for the patches of red on it. The red seemed to be coming from her neck. Her face had a smile on it as if nothing was wrong. Watching the lady, she pulled a knife out from behind her back and slit her throat.

Echizen was pulled out of his fantasy when he heard his name being called. He looked around to see one of his classmates calling for him from outside. The boy rushed inside to escape the cold and ran to Echizen. He told him that one of his teachers needed to talk to him about something and now was the only free time they had. The boy ran back out and Echizen went to Tezuka and told him what his classmate said. Tezuka allowed him to leave and see his teacher.

Echizen walked outside and felt a cold breeze on his face. He loved winter so much. He couldn't think of anything wrong with it. It was cold yet the sun was out, there were warm things to eat and drink and he got to see Momo make a fool of himself again.

He walked to his science class and found his teacher sitting at her desk. She explained that he had missed a test and needed to make it up sometime in the day or else it would count as a zero. He thought for a moment about when he could make it up; he couldn't do it before or after school because of practice, the passing periods and breaks were too short, the teacher wasn't there during lunch. He decided to make it up during his English class. He figured that he could sacrifice one day of sleep to make his grade up.

They settled the matter and Echizen went back towards the gym. He had a feeling that he was being watched from somewhere but didn't know where. He could feel the persons' eyes on him, watching his every move. The feeling of uneasiness made him quicken his pace.

He made it back to the gym just fine but when he was about to go in, a snowball hit him in the back of the head. He looked around to see where it came from and saw someone standing to the left of the gym with another snowball in hand. Echizen gave them an annoyed look and started to head into the gym.

"Matte!" the person shouted as he threw the snowball at him. Echizen ignored him and went into the gym. He could hear the person chasing after him but he shut the door with a slam before they could reach. Everyone looked at him as he slammed the door then leaned on it and sighed.

"Not him again." He said to himself.

"What's wrong Ochibi? Why did you slam the door?" Kikumaru asked skipping towards him.

"I bet he has a bad grade in his class and has to take make up classes." Momo said with a cheeky grin.

"Not everyone's like you stupid peach." Kaidou said.

Snickers filled the room with Kaidou's comment and Momo's look of hatred.

"Is there something wrong Echizen-kun?" Yukimura walked up to him.

Echizen sighed again. "Is there any way we can lock this door?" he asked everyone.

"Why would you want-" Sanada's question was cut off by a loud bang from outside.

"That's why." He said as he leaned on the door trying to keep it shut as the person started banging on the door trying to force it open. Everyone looked at him with slight confused faces while he leaned on the door, trying to stop the person who was trying to get in. They all pondered who could be out there.

"Echizen, who's out there?" Taka asked.

"Or what?" Niou added.

"A nuisance."

With that said, the banging stopped. Everyone watched as Echizen sighed once more and eased off the door.

"Echizen, who was out there?" Inui asked.

Before Echizen could answer, the door flew open and knocked him to the ground.

"Oi, who are you calling a nuisance?" a person stood in the doorway.

All the regulars looked at the person in the doorway. Some smiled, some cringed and the others were surprised at who was standing in front of them. Rikkaidai were mildly confused.

"Wasn't it obvious? It was directed at you." Echizen gave the person an annoyed look.

A vein popped. The person jumped on Echizen's back and started pulling his arms.

"You little bastard. Don't call your older brother a nuisance!"

"Uno, who is that?" Marui asked.

"That's Echizen's older brother Ryoga." Fuji said with a smile.

Everyone watched as Echizen was bent backwards getting scolded by Ryoga. Oishi frantically ran towards them trying to convince Ryoga to stop but he said that he was helping Echizen get taller. After a few minutes, with Taka's help, Oishi finally got him to stop. He introduced himself to the Rikkaidai regulars and they introduced themselves to him.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Echizen asked as he stretched out his shoulders.

"Why else, I wanted to see my dear baby brother." Ryoga slung his arm around Echizen's neck. "And we're going to spend the break together." He pulled out a pamphlet. "At this mansion."

* * *

**Whoooo! Chapter one is done! I've been getting very lazy with doing this. Normally, one chapter takes me about a day to write but this took me like a week. I've got all the ideas but I've been preoccupied with things like Batman, Teen Wolf and Criminal Minds.**

**Hahaha stupid procrastination. But in all seriousness, I'm kinda stressed out because my sister is going to Japan for two years so I'm helping her with her stuff. That's why I'm going to write three chapters before I upload anything.**

**How'd you like it? I hate boring beginnings but it will get good. Review and keep me going!**

**Please help me with the personalities of the Rikkaidai regulars! I think I got them right but help me make sure!**

**Forgive stupid mistakes!**

**Hope you liked it! Bai!**


	2. At School

**Hey everyone. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter and thanks to everyone who reviewed though, I haven't even uploaded it yet so… thanks to everyone who will review but, by the time you read this, I will have uploaded it so… thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**Let's see, it is 00:30 hours on July 26 in the year 2012 and I'm uber tired. I had two games today and I have to get up in about six hours but I'm staying up to write this for everyone because I want to get back in the grove of doing this for hours at a time.**

**I think I'll just write this then go to bed. I have lifting in the morning. I hate my life.**

**Chapter 2. Enjoy!**

* * *

Everyone watched as Echizen was bent backwards getting scolded by Ryoga. Oishi frantically ran towards them trying to convince Ryoga to stop but he said that he was helping Echizen get taller. After a few minutes, with Taka's help, Oishi finally got him to stop. He introduced himself to the Rikkaidai regulars and they introduced themselves to him.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Echizen asked as he stretched out his shoulders.

"Why else, I wanted to see my dear baby brother." Ryoga slung his arm around Echizen's neck. "And we're going to spend the break together." He pulled out a pamphlet. "At this mansion."

* * *

Echizen took the pamphlet and opened it. Inside was a list of things to do once you were there, all the accommodations and how you would be living and nearby stores and shops. The one thing that caught his eye in the pamphlet was the picture of the house. It had the same structure, same bushes, fence, pillars and windows as the one he saw when he blanked out earlier that day. A chill went up his spine.

"Why would I want to spend my vacation with you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

A vein popped.

"Why wouldn't you want to spend a week with your brother that you never see?!" Ryoga practically shouted in an aggravated tone as he pulled Echizen into a headlock.

"Ah Ryoga-san! You're suffocating him!" Oishi ran to them and tried to free Echizen.

With all the commotion, Echizen dropped the pamphlet and it slid over to Marui who picked it up and started reading.

"_Kainite Manor has been in the Kainite family for many years. Riko Kainite built the manor when he moved here from America. It housed his wife Jiriko, their two sons Fuyuki and Jinko, their daughter Kejika, their cat Bora and their dog Huka. They lived in that house their entire lives._

_At this manor, you will find a lovely selection of rooms, hopefully finding one to your liking. There are three bathrooms, one upstairs and two down, an outdoor spring which is great to have a nice warm soak in in the cold chill of winter, two fire places, a kitchen fit for the chef of a king and many more wonderful things. It has a magnificent yard full of native trees and bushes. If you come here in the winter, it is a perfect place to build snow forts and have snowball fights._

_We hope that you will enjoy your stay and will hopefully drop by for another stay. Remember: You can't stay just one night at Kainite Manor."_

"That sounds like a fun place." Kirihara said.

"Why wouldn't you want to go to a place like that Ochibi?" Kikumaru asked. He turned to Echizen to him and Oishi trying to pry Ryoga away from him.

"Ryoga-san please!" Oishi panicked. "He's turning blue!"

"Chibisuke, I'll let you go, _if_ you say you'll spend the vacation with me!" Ryoga gave him a cheeky and devilish grin.

"Y-Yadda!" Echizen struggled to get away.

Ryoga gave a pout and frowned. He looked around and saw everyone watching and came up with an idea.

"I'll make you a deal Chibisuke; you can bring your friends and teammates along." He gestured to the Seigaku and Rikkaidai regulars.

"Eh? Really Ryoga-san?" Momo asked with delight.

"Ah. With how big that place is, it would be too much for just two people." Ryoga smiled at him. "How about it, Tezuka-kun?"

"Ah." Tezuka adjusted his glasses.

"Of course, Yukimura-kun and his teammates are welcome to come too." He turned his smile to Yukimura. "Well?"

"I think it could be fun." Yukimura returned his smile. "We didn't have plans anyways."

"Yosh!" Ryoga released Echizen causing him to fall to the floor. "We'll all meet at Chibisuke's next week."

"O-Oi matte!" Echizen rubbed his neck. "I never said anything about going with you."

"Too bad. I let you go now you have to come." Ryoga rubbed Echizen's head.

Echizen batted his hand away. "How are you paying for this?" he was genuinely curious.

"I'll tell you how."

* * *

**Flashback to earlier that day, Ryoga POV**

_We had gone on break for school and my team didn't have anything planned for vacation, so I decided to travel to Japan to visit my family._ [Echizen: More like you got bored and wanted someone to pick on. Ryoga: Urasai.] _I hopped on a plane and came here. I arrived here a few hours ago. I visited the house, said hello to Otou-san, Okaa-san, Nanako-chan and Karupin then came here to say hello to my dear sweet brother. _[Echizen: More like torture. Ryoga gave him a lite smack on the back of the head.]

_On the way here, I went down the market street. While there, I walked past a raffle booth. I was sort of zoned out when I walked by but I snapped out of it when the lady there started shouting._

"_Ooooh! We have a winner! Congratulations young man!" I turned to see the lady walking towards me. "Young man, you have won first prize!"_

_I looked around thinking she was talking to someone near me. "You mean me?" I pointed to myself. "How could I win? I didn't do anything."_

"_You don't have to! You are the 100__th__ person to walk by the shop today and just for doing that, you have won an all-expense paid trip to the Kainite Mansion for you and up to twenty of your friends and family!"_

_She handed me a pamphlet and all the information needed, congratulated me again then when back to raffling. I gave the pamphlet a quick look-through then hurried here to the school._

* * *

**Flashback End, Normal POV**

"So you haven't even told Oyaji or Kaa-san yet?" Echizen crossed his arms.

"I called them on the way here and told them that we're going to be spending the vacation together." Ryoga gave him a smartass look.

"Yatta! Vacation with Ochibi!" Kikumaru jumped on Echizen putting him in another deadly hug.

"Eiji let go of him!" Oishi again had to pry someone off Echizen.

"Saa, this could be interesting." Fuji said with a smirk.

"This is an excellent time to gather the other team's data…" Inui trailed off and started writing in his notebook.

"This should be a fun experience." Taka said with a smile.

"Fsshhh… I don't think it will turn out as you hope Kawamara-sempai." Kaidou hissed.

"Is this really alright, Yukimura?" Sanada asked.

"I don't see what's wrong with it." Yukimura replied with a smile. He seemed a bit excited to go.

"Of course it is!" Momo over heard him ask. "Ryoga-san invited you. Ne, Ryoga-san?"

"Ah!" Ryoga walked over and swung his arms over Sanada and Yukimura. "Don't worry. All the expenses will be dealt with and there will be enough room for everyone."

"No, that's not what I meant." Sanada said under his breath.

Everyone started talking about what they would do in preparation for the trip up there and what they would do while they were there. During the commotion, Echizen managed to escape Kikumaru's grasp. He found the pamphlet that his brother brought, took it from someone's hand and walked to the wall and started looking through it again.

He flipped to the page with the picture of the front of the house on it. He got an icy chill up his spine when he saw the front of it. It looked exactly like what he saw before. He looked at the front and saw the window that he saw the woman in. Something flashed before his eyes and he saw the woman standing in the window again. She was in the same dandelion yellow Victorian dress and it still had bloody stains on it.

Echizen shook his head. He didn't want to see that again. He didn't know why he was or how he was seeing it and he didn't like the thought of being in a place where something like that was there. He didn't know if he should tell everyone or not. He overheard parts of the conversation everyone else was having. They were all cheering and choosing roommates, mainly Kikumaru, Momo, Marui and Jackal. He saw the smiles and looks of enjoyment on everyone's faces. Even Tezuka and Sanada, whose faces were usually stoic and unemotional, allowed some delight to pass through.

"I guess it can't be helped." He said with a sigh.

"Eh? What was that Chibisuke?" Ryoga asked as he pounced on him. "Are you saying that you'll actually go?"

Echizen crossed his arms. "It's not like I'll have a choice. If I don't go by my own will, you'll knock me out and drag me there."

"Ha! Don't worry Chibisuke! You don't have to make up excuses. You can just tell everyone that you're happy to be with your big brother!" Ryoga pulled his brother into a hug.

"It's not an excuse if it's true." He tried to get away from Ryoga but to no avail.

Everyone was laughing at the sight in front of them. They all talked for a little while longer and somehow, everyone lost track of the time. Just as Tezuka was to announce the end of morning practice, the bell rang. All the non-regulars, except Momo and Kikumaru, freaked out. They all started running around, trying to pick up the balls and put everything away but were more or less making a bigger mess.

"It seems that we were a distraction." Yukimura said with a playful smile.

Tezuka sighed and started yelling orders to everyone, attempting to get them organized.

"According to recent data, it wasn't you who distracted everyone." Inui said.

"It was him." Renji said pointing to Ryoga who was still latched onto his brother.

"Let go!" Echizen kept trying to escape. "I need to go to class!"

"Since when are you in a rush to get to class?" Ryoga said tightening his grip. "I bet you just want me to let you go."

"Damn right I do! I'm going to be late!"

A vein popped and Ryoga pulled Echizen into a headlock.

"You un-grateful little punk! You're not supposed to tell me that. You're supposed to say something like 'No, that's not it at all. As much as I like spending time with you, I'll get in trouble if I'm late to class. We can hang out after.' Something like that!"

"Who in their right mind would say that?!" Echizen gasped for air.

Several more veins popped. Ryoga tightened his grip around Echizen's neck. Oishi saw that Echizen was in need of assistance and ran over to help.

"Ryoga-san! He's turning blue! You're suffocating him! Please let go!" Oishi was way past mother-hen mode.

"It's fine Oishi-kun. He can still breathe." His tone got deeper as he looked at Echizen. "Ne, Chibisuke?"

"Y-You bastard." Echizen managed to croak out.

"Ryoga-san, since you are not in this school and we all have to get to class, would you mind escorting Rikkaidai to their bus?" Inui popped up beside Oishi. Ryoga's eyes got a bit wider and he blinked a couple of time.

"Hai!" he said in a very cheery voice. He dropped Echizen and joyfully skipped towards the Rikkaidai regulars and walked out towards the front of the school with them.

"Echizen, are you okay?!" Oishi went to him and helped him up.

"Ah." Echizen rubbed his neck. "I'm fine Oishi-sempai." He thanked Oishi and Inui for helping to free him then walked to the club room to change.

"I wonder if he's really alright." Taka said

"Saa, talk about tough love." Fuji said with a half-smile and half frown. Even though they were brothers, Fuji didn't like the fact of someone hurting his teammate. _'How will this trip turn out?'_

* * *

"Uno, Ryoga-san." Kirihara started.

"Yes?" Ryoga was in front of everyone and looked back with a vast grin.

"Are you really Echizen's brother?" he asked.

"I've never seen you at any of his matches." Niou said.

"I also have no record of him having siblings." Renji added.

"Actually, I'm his half-brother. I was adopted by his parents a year after Chibisuke was born."

"When was that?" Marui asked.

"Fifteen years ago."

"How old are you?" Sanada asked.

"I'm turning 22 this year."

"A seven year difference." Jackal said. "Was it difficult to get use to?"

"Not at all. I've always wanted siblings. It was like fate when they took me home that day."

"Do you play tennis?" Hiroshi asked.

"Ah, but not in Japan."

"Where do you play?"

"When Chibisuke moved back here with Otou-san and Okaa-san, I stayed in America. I started training and went to high school and am in college and pretty soon, I met his person. He said I had talent and that I should try out for his team and in no time at all, I found myself on the All-American team."

Everyone except Yukimura, who stood there a little dumbfounded, and Renji, who was writing on his notepad, sweat dropped and dead panned.

"Ryoga-san, do you mean to tell me that you are a regular on the All-American tennis team?" Marui asked.

Ryoga smiled and nodded. "Ah. Going on three years now."

"Wait a second, do you mean that you got on the All-American team when you were only-" Jackal was cut off.

"Nineteen yeah. I'm the youngest on the team right now."

Everyone stood looking at him. No wonder Echizen was such a good player; his father is a legendary tennis player and his brother is a third year on the All-American team.

"Ryoga-san, if Echizen had refused to go on the trip, would have really knocked him out and dragged him there?" Kirihara asked trying to get off the subject.

"I didn't knock him out. I just slipped some sleeping pills in his orange juice." Ryoga flung his arms behind his head and started to walk again.

Everyone stayed behind him and sweat dropped several times. Poor Echizen, he's had to deal with this practically his whole life. Now everyone knew why he didn't like trips, it probably reminded him of his brother.

"Minna! Hurry or else you'll miss your bus!" Ryoga turned and shouted to them in a very cheery voice.

"Yukimura, will we be alright on the trip next week?" Sanada asked in a worried tone.

Yukimura smiled. "Let's deal with that when the time comes." He started walking towards Ryoga.

Everyone sighed. _'This is going to be a long week'_

* * *

**Done. That took me nearly as long as chapter one did. I think I wrote better during the school year because I didn't want to do my homework. Yay for procrastination.**

_**This is supposed to be a scary ass story of an effing haunted mansion! What the hell?!**_** I know. It's getting there. Gotta build suspense! Or rather… I don't know what's going to happen yet. Yeah, let's go with that.**

**Okay so, help with the personalities of the Rikkaidai regulars! I think I mostly got them but still need to perfect them. With Ryoga's personality, don't think of it as he's abusive. I thought that as I read through it. He's just the older brother who like to pick on the younger brother. He never does anything that would really hurt him and whenever I describe him doing something to Echizen; it's like all the fun anime ways that they get hurt. Nothing really, ummm, for lack of a better way of describing, life threatening like Oishi makes it seem.**

**Forgive errors and stupid mistakes!**

**O-kay! Chapter two is done! On to chapter three! See you then!**


	3. The Dream

**Aaaaaand… here's chapter three. You know, I was thinking,**_** it's a miracle;**_** no story is complete until Inui makes a new batch of his juice and uses it to ****torture,**** scratch that, **_**motivate**_** his teammates. Little heads up for what's coming.**

**Well, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, faved and watched me and my story! You guys give the will to go on! Well, you and chocolate. I just uploaded the first chapter so if you have told me anything about personalities, I probably haven't got to it yet but thanks for it!**

**As said many times before and I quote, "I DO NOT own Prince of Tennis."**

**Well, let's see how many times my thought train gets derailed while I write this.**

**Chapter 3. Enjoy!**

* * *

Everyone stayed behind him and sweat dropped several times. Poor Echizen, he's had to deal with this practically his whole life. Now everyone knew why he didn't like trips, it probably reminded him of his brother.

"Minna! Hurry or else you'll miss your bus!" Ryoga turned and shouted to them in a very cheery voice.

"Yukimura, will we be alright on the trip next week?" Sanada asked in a worried tone.

Yukimura smiled. "Let's deal with that when the time comes." He started walking towards Ryoga.

Everyone sighed. _'This is going to be a long week.'_

* * *

The day went on as it normally did, except Echizen had a new stalker. Despite his protests, his brother stayed at school and followed him around. When Echizen confronted him about getting in trouble, Ryoga defended himself by saying that he talked to the principal about needing to stay there to observe a Japanese school since he lived in America. Echizen highly doubted his brother's story because every time he saw a teacher, he said that he need to leave the room or go to the bathroom.

All his classes were finally over and he made his way to the club room. He was getting more stares than he normally did; to this he owes the pleasure to Ryoga. Sure, it was strange enough to see Echizen walking with someone other than Horio or Momo but it was even stranger when that person looked exactly like him and was complaining about things.

"Chibisuke, why don't you ever come visit me on your breaks?" Ryoga moaned behind Echizen.

"I don't want to." Echizen said.

"But why? I could show you all the things there are to do in America."

"I lived there most of my life remember? There's no need to go back."

"But _I'm_ there."

Echizen scoffed. "Like I said, no need."

Ryoga had several veins pop. He stopped behind Echizen for a moment then ran past him, taking his tennis bag with him.

"Oi! I need that!" Echizen shouted.

"Just try to get it back!" Ryoga said in a playful yet ominous voice.

Echizen had now earned the looks from everyone in the school. He was forced to chase down his seemingly older brother that acted like a ten year old to get back his tennis bag which he needed for practice and if he didn't get it back soon, Tezuka would undoubtedly make him run again.

He chased Ryoga through the school and outside. He had forgotten that it had snowed the night before and the ground had a lite layer of snow over it. He stopped his chase and looked up at the sky. It was gray with patches of blue. If he didn't know better, it looked like it was going to snow again.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Momo calling to him.

"Echizen, if you don't hurry, Buchou will make you run." Momo teased. "Where's your bag?"

Echizen's thought bubble of the weather popped.

"Ryoga took it." he said in an annoyed tone as he placed his hand on his head.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know. He ran off."

"Haha. You better find him and get it back otherwise Buchou will make you run the whole practice." Momo said with an amused smile.

"I wish he would act his age." Echizen said with a sigh as they started towards the club room.

"Awe come on. Cut him some slack. He's happy that he's here with you." he said as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"That doesn't give him any reason to act like a five year old." Echizen put his arms behind his head.

"Echizen, have you ever thought how he feels? Being away from your family for years at a time. He can't help if he's happy to see you."

Echizen scoffed in displeasure. He knew what Momo was saying and where he was coming from but didn't want to admit it.

"Are you even happy to see him?"

Echizen thought for a second. "Well yeah. I'm glad that he's here. It's not like I get to see him every day."

Momo snickered and placed his hand on Echizen's head. "You really don't know how to show your feelings do you?"

"Urasi." He slightly blushed.

By this time, Momo and Echizen arrived at the club room. Echizen opened the door to see Ryoga standing in the doorway with glassy eyes.

"Chibisuke…" Ryoga started sniffing. "I didn't think you cared!" Ryoga launched himself at Echizen, in turn making both of them fall to the ground.

"What are you talking about? Get off of me." Echizen tried to push Ryoga off him.

"I knew that you secretly cared!" Ryoga started sobbing into Echizen's jacket.** (funny anime style)**

Echizen sweat dropped as the other regulars started to walk to the club room.

"Why are you two in the ground Ochibi?" Kikumaru asked as he examined Ryoga crying into Echizen's chest.

"Are you alright Ryoga-san?" Fuji asked.

"Fsshhh, men don't show their tears." Kaidou said under his voice.

"Echizen, you're blocking the door." Tezuka said trying to exit the club room. "Four minutes. Everyone who's late will be Inui's taste tester."

Everyone looked at Tezuka then turned to Inui who pulled out a pitcher.

"Special Deluxe Ultra Golden Power Inui juice." He held the pitcher in front of everyone. It looked like a regular fruit smoothie but when everyone leaned over to examine it, a small puff of smoke came from it and it started bubbling. "It's good for the muscles." He took a large swig of it. "It is a bit sour though. I think I need to adjust a few things…" he trailed off and started writing in his notebook.

Everyone sweat dropped several times. If it was sour for Inui, what would it be like for everyone without superhuman taste buds? Echizen flung Ryoga off and ran into the club room as did everyone. Miraculously, Echizen's things were where they belonged. Everyone changed in a flash and ran to the gym. Just as he was about to enter, Echizen got tackled by Ryoga again.

"Oi what are you doing?!" Echizen asked as he pealed his face off the pavement.

"Don't just run away like that! We need to spend all the time we can together." Ryoga said.

"If you don't let go I'll have to-" Inui appeared in front of him.

"Echizen, you're late." He held a cup in front of him. "It's 3:36. You needed to have been in here by 3:35." He pushed the cup closer to Echizen's face.

"B-But-" Echizen pushed Ryoga off him.

"Echizen, if you argue, you'll be running in addition to drinking that." Tezuka said.

Echizen sweat dropped and reluctantly took the glass in Inui's hand. He looked at it then at all the faces of everyone already in the gym. They gave him looks of sorrow and pity. It wasn't his fault that he was late but he had to suffer for it.

He took another look of the substance in the cup. The smell was enough to knock someone who wasn't used to it out. He was just about to take a drink when the cup was taken from his hand.

"Chibisuke, don't hog all the juice to yourself." Ryoga took the cup from Echizen's hand and downed the continents.

Everyone watched in horror as Ryoga drank the cup of Inui's juice. Even Tezuka was watching and waiting for a reaction. Ryoga finished the cup and placed it back in Echizen's hand.

"Waa, that was refreshing." Ryoga gave everyone a big smile. "What's everyone looking at?"

"Iya, nothing Ryoga-san." Momo and Kikumaru both had lines forming on their faces. **(anime style)**

Ryoga gave them another smile then started walking away.

"Oi, where are you going?" Echizen took a step towards him.

"Ah, I think I'm going to head home." Ryoga's smile turned to one not of happiness but stupidity and disgust. He gave a small chuckle then hurried around the corner.

Echizen stared dumbfounded at what just happened. His brother, who wanted to spend all the time in the world with him, left his side. He didn't seem to notice Inui standing beside him, pitcher in hand.

"Echizen, you still have to drink." He refilled the cup.

Echizen felt the object in his hand get heavier. He looked to see the cup fully filled and sweat dropped.

* * *

Echizen sighed. He wasn't fully recovered from Inui's 'motivation' and his stomach hurt. Fortunately they were having practice matches and could use his stomach hurting as an excuse if he lost. Luckily, he won his match and didn't need to use it.

Tezuka announced the end of practice and told the freshmen to pick up the balls. He called the regulars over to talk about the week to come.

"As you all know, we will be spending next week with Echizen's brother and Rikkaidai. Since there will be no practice next week, we must work extra hard this week. Get home, rest and try not to get sick. The weather is supposed to get worse so keep warm."

"Hai." Everyone agreed then were dismissed.

Upon leaving the gym and walking towards the club room, everyone seemed to notice a group of people just outside the gates to the school.

"What's going on over there?" Taka asked to everyone.

"Saa, maybe someone is selling ice cream." Fuji said with a smile.

"In winter?" Kaidou said with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe it's really good ice cream." Kikumaru said.

"That is highly unlikely." Inui said.

"Maybe it's hot chocolate." Oishi said as everyone walked into the club room.

"That would be good right about now." Momo said with a big smile. "Ne Echizen?"

"Sure. Buy me one when we walk by." Echizen quickly changed, picked up his things and went towards the group of people. Momo followed after.

* * *

"Oi, what's all this about?" Momo asked a girl from his class that was in the group.

"Momo-chan, something's wrong with Echizen-kun!" she frantically said.

Momo looked to see Echizen behind him with a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know! It seems that he had a growth spurt of some sort and is now lying unconscious!"

"Growth spurt? What are you talking about?" Momo looked to Echizen who had an irritated look. "I don't think so. He's still as short as ever."

The girl looked behind Momo to see Echizen with a scowl. "Ah! Echizen-kun?!"

"Yes?" Echizen raised an eyebrow. He didn't like where this was going.

"If you're here, then who's that?!" she pointed to the middle of the group of people.

Echizen sighed then frowned. He pushed his way through all the people until he came to the center of the circle. He sneered in annoyance. The thing everyone was looking at wasn't someone selling something but an unconscious Ryoga lying in front of the school gates with a puddle of drool coming out of his mouth.

Echizen's eyebrow twitched. "Oi, how long are you going to sleep here? You're making a scene." He took his bag and dropped it on Ryoga's head.

It landed with a thud and a moan was heard from underneath it.

"Uuaaggh, i-tai…" Ryoga moaned as he pushed the bag off his head. "What was that for?"

"You're blocking the path." Echizen took his bag. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Umm, I tried to go home but didn't quite make it." he replied with a yawn as he got up from the ground.

"You mean you passed out from drinking Inui-sempai drink don't you?"

"Don't talk about it. It's too horrible to remember." He held his stomach. "You have to drink that every day?"

"Under certain circumstances." Echizen slung his bag over his shoulder. "You're going to get sick if you stay there and I don't want to spend my break with a sick person."

Ryoga got puppy dog eyes. "You care about me?"

"No. I just don't want to get sick." He started walking in the direction of his house.

Ryoga's puppy eyes turned into ones of a wolf ready to pounce on its pray.

"Oi, what did you just say?"

"I don't want t-" Echizen turned to see 'kill' etched in Ryoga's eyes. He took this as a fair warning and ran down the street.

"You little twerp! Just wait till I get my hands on you!" Ryoga took off after him.

Everyone who was surrounding Ryoga sweat dropped as they watched him take off after Echizen, not fully grasping what just happened.

"Uno, Momo-chan, what just happened?" the girl from his class asked.

Momo sighed. "Hah, it's sort of a long story."

* * *

Echizen ran down the street and past all the shops with Ryoga close behind him. Thinking that Ryoga didn't know his way around as much, Echizen ran down and ally and disappeared into a neighborhood not so far from his own. When Ryoga tried to follow, he completely lost sight of Echizen and decided to go back the way he came and head home figuring that that's the place Echizen would go.

Echizen walked through the neighborhood not at a quick pace but not slow either. After a few minutes, he got to his street and started walking towards his house. When he was a house or two from his own, he noticed a lady standing in front of his gate. She had fair ivory skin, beautiful teal eyes, gorgeous strawberry blonde hair and worn red and yellow winter clothing. Not having any interest, he walked to the house and opened the gate.

"Uno, is this the Echizen residence?" she asked in a sickly sounding voice.

"Ah. What do you want?" Echizen asked in an annoyed tone.

"Are you Echizen Ryoma?"

"Yes." He placed his hand on his hip.

"I was told to give this to you." The girl pulled out an envelope and handed it to him.

Echizen took it and examined it. It was one of those old fashioned envelopes where someone used wax to seal it.

"Nani kore?" he lowered the envelope and looked up back towards the girl but she was gone. He looked up and down the street to see any sigh of her but she seemed to vanish into thin air.

Echizen looked at the envelope again and just as he was about to break the seal, he felt a dark ora emanating behind him. He turned to see Ryoga standing there. His face was dark and you could see only a tiny spot of light coming from his eyes. **(fun anime style) **Echizen sweat dropped and ran inside. Ryoga ran after him. He had his mind set on one thing.

* * *

After Echizen and Ryoga sorted out their differences in view towards each other, **(Ryoga slapped Echizen around a little for not caring) **everyone in the house had dinner then headed to bed. Seeing that Ryoga had nowhere to sleep, Nanako volunteered Echizen to share his room with Ryoga for the night.

"Why do I have to be on the floor?" Ryoga complained. "Why can't I sleep with you in your bed?"

"For one thing, it's too small." Echizen replied as he crawled into bed. "And I don't want to sleep with you."

Ryoga pouted. "Mou, come on Chibisuke. It will be just like old times, like when we were younger."

"Yadda." Echizen rolled over and pulled the blankets. "It'll get too hot."

"But it's winter! We need to keep warm so we don't get sick." Ryoga kept complaining about how they need to be together and reminisce in old memories. Echizen sighed. He figured that unless he found a way to shut Ryoga up, he wouldn't be able to sleep at all.

"If you shut up right now, you can bunk with me sometime this week."

Ryoga's eyes started to sparkle. "You mean it?"

"If you go to sleep right now, you can sleep with me at some point this week." Echizen pulled the blanket over his head. "Now be quiet. I want to sleep."

"Hai!" Ryoga laid on his futon and went to sleep.

Echizen laid in his bed for a few minutes then drifted into blissful sleep.

* * *

When Echizen awoke, he was in front of the Kainite Mansion. He didn't know why he was there, nor did he really care. He wasn't dressed in any of his winter wear and was getting cold so he decided to go inside to get warm.

"Ojama shimasu." Echizen said as he opened the door and walked inside. The inside of the mansion was amazing. The walls were lush with beautiful mahogany with shades of blue and green mixed in, the lights that were everywhere were hanging like Christmas lights, a mini crystal chandelier hung in the foyer and a walnut carpet covered the stairs going to the second level.

"Hello?" Echizen called as he walked further inside.

"You shouldn't be here." Echizen looked up to the top of the stairs to see the girl from earlier in the day. "Didn't you read what was in the envelope?"

"It's not my choice to be here." He answered. "Why am I here?"

"It doesn't matter why or how you're here. All that's important now is that you leave." She started walking down the stairs towards him. Just before she reached the last step, the building started shaking. "It's too late." She looked at him. "Run!"

"What?" Echizen looked around and took a few steps back. "What's going-"

"RUN!"

Echizen flinched on the tone and volume of her voice. He turned around to run but stopped when he saw the lady in the dandelion Victorian dress. He looked at her then noticed that the room had got considerably darker. He looked behind her to see that the walls were no longer their calming mahogany but were now chard black. The windows were broken, there were pieces of the chandelier everywhere, all the lights were shattered and the carpet was burned and stained with various things.

"You're finally here." She gave him a terrifying smile. "I'm glad."

"Echizen-kun!" The girl on the stairs ran towards him.

Echizen cringed as the woman in front of him took a step forward. He was about to back up when he felt a horrible pain in his stomach.

"You shouldn't leave us." Her smile got bigger. "You _can't_ leave us."

Echizen looked down to see a knife in his stomach with the woman's hand attached to it.

* * *

**MWAHAHAHA! First cliffhanger of the story! :3 When the hell did all of that happen?! Haha! Hate me for making you wait!**

**Chapter three done! How was it? You know, it's much easier to write when you're not mixing two schools together. But whatever. That means that all the difficult chapters will come later.**

**Ummm, I'll upload when I finish the next chapter… that sounds confusing… let's see, I just finished this one so, I will have uploaded the second chapter and when I have finished the forth chapter, I'll upload the third. Something like that.**

**I would like to thank all my reviewers for chapter one: **_**tennisgirl16, EmeraldRain25, MintLeafeon, IluvSilverShadow, Dragon of Despaire, isabella and misteriosayuri. **_**Thanks guys! I love you! The only reason why I'm thanking you now is because I already uploaded chapter two and didn't feel like changing it :P**

**Forgive stupid mistakes!**

**Hope that everyone like it and will stay with me!**

**See ya later!**


	4. The Necklace

**Chapter 4. Awesome. So motivated… I'm so freaken tired right now but hopefully that won't have any effect on the story except for how fast I type it.**

**Hey guys. How's it going? I hope I'm not a disappoint to you guys. I try, I really do. I was going to say something important but I forgot… I hate when that happens. Oh! I remember… **_***several hours later***_** it's super effing hot. That was all. Just needed to complain a little :3**

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and helped with development of character personalities :3 You guys rock!**

**Before we get started, I would just like to say I DO NOT own Prince of Tennis.**

**Okay, chapter four. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Echizen-kun!" The girl on the stairs ran towards him.

Echizen cringed as the woman in front of him took a step forward. He was about to back up when he felt a horrible pain in his stomach.

"You shouldn't leave us." Her smile got bigger. "You _can't_ leave us."

Echizen looked down to see a knife in his stomach with the woman's hand attached to it.

* * *

Echizen shot up in bed. He was drenched in sweat and his breathing was heavy. He looked around his room to see Ryoga askew on his futon with his blanket half way on him and Karupin was sitting on the bed looking at him, wondering why he was awake.

"What was that?" Echizen placed one hand on his forehead and the other went to his stomach. Karupin looked at him and meowed. Echizen gave him a pat.

He looked at his clock. The bright red numbers said that it was 6:40am. He sighed when he realized that with that dream he probably wouldn't be able to get back to sleep for the last twenty minutes or so. Karupin crawled his way into his lap and laid down. He began purring as Echizen pet his head.

As Echizen pet Karupin, he recalled the dream he just had. It seemed so real. The lady in the dress, the colors and sights of the house and the girl that had handed him the envelope. The girl… and the envelope, why were they in the dream? He never even opened the envelope. It was still on his desk. With curiosity taking over, he moved Karupin from his lap, got out of bed and went to his desk.

He turned on the lamp on the desk, sat down and opened the envelope. He dumped out the contents to find a necklace and a note. He picked up the necklace to see it had some weird scrapes and lines on one side and the word 'dream' on the other. He set the necklace down and picked up the note and began to read.

"_If you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from that house, stay away from Kainite Manor." _Echizen stared at the paper. He didn't know who the girl was yesterday. How did she know he was going to that place? _"If you absolutely have to go, please, wear the pendent." _He looked to the necklace. _"It's for your own safety. Stay away from that house."_

Echizen didn't know what to think. Who did this? Who were the girl and the lady in the dress? How did they know he was going to that house? Dozens of questions began flowing into his head. He picked up the pendent again and examined it. He thought it was kind of strange that it said 'dream' on it and then he had a dream with the girl in it.

He sat at his desk thinking for a few minutes. Considering the dream he had and seeing the girl the previous day and the lady in the dress the day before, he didn't think it was such a bad idea to wear the necklace. Just as he was about to put it on, he heard a yawn behind him.

"Huuaamm. What are you doing Chibisuke?" Ryoga asked as he rubbed his eyes. "Did you discover a world before 7:00am?"

Echizen scoffed. "Urasai baka aniki." He placed the necklace around his neck. "Your snoring woke me up."

"I don't snore!' Ryoga said as he sat up from his futon.

'Have you ever heard yourself?" Echizen asked with a raised brow.

"Ah-" Ryoga was about to comment when he realized that he hadn't ever heard himself because he was asleep.

"Don't start something you can't finish." Echizen said as he got up from the desk. Just before he reached the door, Ryoga's arm caught his neck.

"I can finish it! I just need a camera or something!" Ryoga didn't want to lose.

The next bit of time was consisting of Echizen getting free and Ryoga trapping him again. After about twenty minutes of going back and forth, they heard a knock on the door.

"Ryoma-san! Gomen! I woke up late today! I'll hurry and make you breakfast!" They heard Nanako run down the hall.

Echizen looked at the clock and saw that if he didn't leave now, he would be later than he normally was and thinking about what Tezuka said yesterday, he didn't have time to lose. He struggled free from Ryoga one more time and started to change.

"Chibisuke, what are you doing?" Ryoga asked as he sat on the bed and Echizen put his shirt on.

"What does it look like? I have school." He replied pulling on his socks.

"I don't mean that," he reached into his pocket. "I mean this." He pulled the necklace Echizen was wearing from his pocket.

Echizen's eyes got wider and his hand went to his chest to find that his pendent was gone.

"Give it back." His voice was stern and commanding.

"Why?" Ryoga got a playful look in his eyes. "Did a girl give this to you?"

"Give it to me." He stretched out his hand.

"Is that a yes?" Ryoga chuckled teasingly. "Is she pretty? I didn't think you could-"

"GIVE IT BACK." Echizen practically shouted at him.

Ryoga looked at him with surprise. With all the times Echizen has gotten mad at him, he has never raised his voice like that. He held the necklace forward and Echizen snatched it from his hand, put it back around his neck, took his things and went downstairs. Ryoga sat on the bed for a minute wondering about what was so important about that necklace to make him mad like that. Wanting more answers, he followed Echizen downstairs.

* * *

"Ryoma-san, what would you like?" Nanako asked taking a pot out of the cup bored. "I'll make you something real quick."

"I don't have enough time." He answered as he went to the door and put his shoes on.

Ryoga made his way down the stairs. "Chibisuke-"

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Ah. I'll just get something at school later." His eyes caught Ryoga's and filled with annoyance and pardon. "Ittekimasu!"

"Ah Ryoma-san! Mou, he's always running off." Nanako put her hands on her hips. "Would you like something Ryoga-san?" she asked with a smile.

Ryoga met her smile with his own. "Ah."

* * *

Echizen went running down the street, checking his phone every so often to see if he was going to make it. He turned the corner and just as he did, a girl in red and yellow winter clothes caught his eye. As he got closer to her, he slowed his speed and stopped next to her. He looked at her and she looked at him.

"You're still going aren't you?" she asked in a sad tone.

"Who are you?" he asked accusingly. "How do you know me and where I'm going?" they both turned their heads when they heard Echizen's name being called from behind.

"I'll ask you again Echizen-kun, please don't go." There was sorrow reflected in her eyes.

"Why? What will happen if I go?" he asked with discontent in his voice.

"-izen!" they could here Momo calling to him.

"Please, the weather is getting worse and by the time you and your friends are up there, it will be too late." She gestured to the snow on the ground. Echizen hadn't noticed that morning but the snow on the sides of the road was higher. "Echizen-kun," her tone dropped. "if you go to that mansion, you won't leave there alive."

"Echizen!" Momo was riding towards them.

Echizen's eyes widened. What did she mean he wouldn't leave there alive?

"If you do go, keep that on. Don't take it off for a second once you're in that house." She pointed towards his neck.

He looked down and placed his hand over where the pendent was.

"How do you-" he looked back up to see that she was gone. How did she know he was wearing the necklace? It was covered by his jacket, not to mention it was under his uniform. No one should have been able to know about it.

"Oi Echizen!" Momo came riding up behind him. "What are you waiting for? If you stand around, you'll be late for sure!" he zoomed past him.

"And if you ride at that speed, you'll crash again!" Echizen shouted back as he ran after him.

"Hah?" Momo turned his head to try to hear Echizen better and managed to again, crash into some bushes.

"Told you so." Echizen said as he ran past.

* * *

Through some sort of miracle, Echizen wasn't late. He arrived at least a minute or two before the bell was supposed to ring.

"Waa! Ochibi is here on time!" Kikumaru launched himself to Echizen.

"That hurts Kikumaru-sempai." Echizen said as he tried to free himself from his sempai's hug.

"Eiji, let go of him!" the motherly male said.

"Saa, to what do we owe this surprise?" Fuji said with a smile.

"Where's Momo Echizen?" Taka asked. "Didn't you walk with him?"

"No, he didn't." Momo said as he walked into the room and brushed the snow from his jacket.

"Fsshhh, you're getting snow everywhere. Brush that off outside." Kaidou hissed.

"Hurry up and get dressed. You have seven minutes." Tezuka said as he left the club room and headed towards the gym. Inui's glasses gleamed.

Everyone sweat dropped when Tezuka gave a time limit.

"What happens after seven minutes?" Kikumaru dared to ask.

Inui popped out of nowhere and gave everyone a mini heart attack. "Hyper Ultra Deluxe Power Remix Inui juice." He held up a pitcher that looked like the same one as the previous day but the contents inside were shimmering and bubbling. "I was able to alter the measurements." He poured himself a cup. "It's not as sour and is quite delicious." He took a big gulp. "It's very refreshing."

Everyone sweat dropped and quickly started to change. As Echizen took off his jacket and shirt, Oishi noticed his pendent.

"Where did you get that necklace Echizen?" he asked in a curious tone.

Everyone seemingly turned to him and examined the piece of jewelry around his neck.

"Waa. That's really pretty Ochibi." Kikumaru said.

"You never struck me as some who would wear a necklace." Taka said.

"Saa, it suits you Echizen." Fuji added.

"Hey Echizen, did a girl give that to you?" Momo asked with a big grin on his face. Kaidou blushed and turned away.

"There is a 39% chance that it is from a fan, 31% chance it's from a family member, 23% chance he bought it himself and a 7% chance it is a difference mean of obtaining it." Inui said reading from his notebook.

Everyone stared at him waiting for an answer but all he did was finish changing and walk out towards the gym. Everyone sweat dropped as he went outside.

"Mou, he never tells us anything." Momo complained.

"Saa, Echizen is a very secretive person." Fuji said. "What do you think Inui?"

"Me?" he looked at his watch. "I think he was watching the time."

Everyone but Fuji dead panned.

"Inui, how much time do we have?" Oishi cautiously asked.

"One minute and thirty-seven seconds." He answered.

Everyone's jaws dropped. They all started to panic and changed at top speed and raced out of the club room towards the gym.

* * *

Unfortunately for him, Inui had to drink his juice all by himself, seeing that everyone somehow made it to the gym in time. They all collapsed on the floor like they had just run a marathon.

Giving them no time to rest, Tezuka had everyone play singles matches with their weak arms. When hearing this, they all wondered what he would do about Echizen seeing that he is good with both of his arms. Instead of having him play a singles match, he played a two-on-one with Oishi and Kikumaru, who still had to use their left hands. The other matches consisted of Momo and Kaidou and Taka and Fuji. Tezuka was overlooking everything and Inui was going around to the groups collecting data.

At the end of practice, somehow, Momo beat Kaidou, Taka and Fuji tied and Kikumaru was latched onto Echizen complaining that it was unfair that he was good at both of his hands. Echizen countered his whining by saying that they had a better chance of winning since there were two of them and only one of him.

"Haha! You should have seen the look on his face!" Momo said to Echizen as they walked with everyone back to the club room. "It was priceless!" he proceeded to an impression of Kaidou when Momo won the game.

Kaidou grunted. _'He won't let me live this down.'_ He thought to himself.

Echizen wasn't listening to Momo. He was more or less trying to drown out the sound of Kikumaru's voice.

"That was totally unfair! Ochibi is good with both hands! He had the advantage!" Kikumaru complained.

"Now Eiji, technically we had the advantage since we were playing him two-on-one." Oishi said trying to calm him down.

"Saa, that was an interesting ending." Fuji said to Taka.

"Ah. I would have thought you would have definitely won." He replied with a smile.

Echizen sighed as he walked with everyone. He was tired and didn't want to deal with anything.

"Ne, Ochibi, where's Ryoga-san?" Kikumaru asked.

"How should I know?" he replied in a bothered tone.

"Echizen, you never answered our questions earlier." Momo said to him.

'What questions?" he asked.

"You never told us the origin of your necklace." Fuji said.

"There's nothing to tell." He answered as he flung his arms behind his head.

"Did someone give it to you?" Taka asked.

"No."

"Did you buy it?" Oishi asked.

"No."

"Does that mean you found it?" Fuji asked.

"No."

"He's not going to tell us." Kaidou pointed out.

"That is the most likely thing to happen." Inui said.

Echizen smirked and kept walking.

* * *

Everyone walked to the club room and changed. The day after that went on as it normally did; Echizen fell asleep, Momo ate, Tezuka read, Inui made his juice, Kaidou hissed, Fuji and Eiji did work and Oishi and Taka were taking notes.

When classes were over, they all went back to the gym and did the same thing as they did that morning. When practice was done and everyone was leaving the club room and heading home, he noticed Ryoga waiting for him outside the gate. He remembered what had happened that morning. He knows that he overreacted but with everything that has happened those past few days and the dream, he couldn't help but be a little paranoid.

He slowly made his way to the gate and stopped in front of him.

"Chibisuke-" Ryoga took a step towards him.

"Gomen. I overreacted this morning." Echizen didn't look him in the eye. "I'm just stressed about a few things."

Ryoga smiled and placed his hand on Echizen's head. "No. I shouldn't have taken something that important to you." He ruffled Echizen's hair. "Gomen."

Echizen smirked and batted his hand away. "Baka."

Ryoga returned his smirk. "Don't call your older brother an idiot."

"Oi Echizen." Momo came running towards them. "Are we still going to get burgers?"

"Ah! Chibisuke, where you going to get food without me?!" Ryoga complained.

"Yes." He answered bluntly.

"You can come if you like Ryoga-san." Momo said with a gleam in his eye.

"Really?!" Ryoga's eyes got spackles in them.

Echizen and Momo gave a mischievous grin. "Of course, you'll pay for us?"

Ryoga looked at them and sweat dropped. "U-Uh, o-of course! What are older brother's for?"

"Yosh! Let's go!" Momo said as he and Echizen began walking to the Burger Joint.

Ryoga sweat dropped several more times. _'What did I get myself into?'_

* * *

**Awe. Poor Ryoga, he doesn't know how much fear he should have for his wallet right now.**

**Chapter 4, done! This took me only about two day to do. I think I'm getting anxious about school starting and probably won't have that much time to do this when it starts but who knows, I'll procrastinate my homework a lot and keep doing this.**

**Hope everyone has enjoyed so far. I have to get up at like… super early tomorrow for lifting. I'll start the next chapter and see how far I get.**

**Forgive stupid mistakes!**

**See ya laters!**


	5. Truth is Out

**Yo guys. What up? I feel like I'm in da hood… naw that's a total lie. I'm just really bored.**

**Hey guys! Chapter five is on its way. I think that this chapter may actually have them dealing with Rikkaidai and the mansion but we'll see when we get there :p**

**In chapter four when trying to describe the necklace, I was actually trying to describe my own necklace that my friend gave to me. It's about an inch by ½ an inch and has some lines on the other side with like a floral pattern mixed in. I tried to show the importance to Ryoma like how it's important to me. Whatever. We'll see how it goes.**

**Again, I DO NOT own Prince of Tennis.**

**Chapter 5. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Really?!" Ryoga's eyes got sparckles in them.

Echizen and Momo gave a mischievous grin. "Of course, you'll pay for us?"

Ryoga looked at them and sweat dropped. "U-Uh, o-of course! What are older brother's for?"

"Yosh! Let's go!" Momo said as he and Echizen began walking to the Burger Joint.

Ryoga sweat dropped several more times. _'What did I get myself into?'_

* * *

The day went on normally. The three boys went to the Burger Joint and Echizen and Momo basically ate Ryoga out of house and home. When they were done, Echizen and Momo left with big smiles on their faces while Ryoga left a trail of tears.

They walked down the street and when they got to the end, they parted ways and headed in separate directions. Echizen and Ryoga walked down the street with all the shops on it and Ryoga pointed out the raffle shop where he won the trip. The lady was still there and when they walked by, she gave him a big smile and congratulated him again.

Not long after that, they arrived home to the smell of Nanako cooking and the whines of their father. They couldn't make out exactly what he was whining about but seeing that he was complaining to Nanako and asking where 'it' and 'she' were, they could take an educated guess.

While Ryoga went into the front room to watch TV, Echizen went to his room. He threw his things on the floor and collapsed on the bed. Not only had he lost some sleep that he wasn't able to get back when he slept in class, Tezuka was having them do a more difficult practice and anyone refusing had to deal with Inui.

He laid on his bed for a few minutes and slowly drifted to sleep. Once asleep, he found himself in the same position as before, in Kainite Manor, facing the lady in the yellow dress.

"_Echizen-kun!" the girl ran towards him._

"_You can't leave." The lady thrust the knife towards Echizen._

_Just as she was going to thrust the knife in his stomach, he felt a sudden jolt of energy and jumped back. He caught a look of entertainment and a smirk on the lady's face._

"_Echizen-kun!" the girl ran up to him. "Are you alright?"_

"_A-Ah." He looked at her then his stomach. He didn't know what just happened._

"_You're involved in this, aren't you?" the lady pointed the knife at the girl._

"_You have no right to do this! He has nothing to do with any of this!" she shouted back as she stood in front of Echizen. "Please, he's not who you think!"_

"_Don't lie to me. I know exactly who he is." the girl and Echizen blinked and the lady was gone._

"_Where'd she go?" Echizen asked as he looked around the room._

"_He's someone who needs to die." Echizen turned his head just as he felt the knife go into his back._

Echizen opened his eyes and his back felt extremely heavy. He turned his head to see Karupin sitting on him.

"Chibisuke, Nanako says it's time to eat." Ryoga's arms where extended. It seemed that he dropped Karupin on him.

"Couldn't you used an easier way to wake me up?" he complained shoving his head back into his pillow.

"I've been trying to wake you up for five minutes." He went to the door. "Hurry and come down. I'm hungry." As he left the room, he heard a muffled 'fine' from under the pillow.

Echizen turned to his stomach. What was happening? That was like a continuation of the dream the previous night. It seemed that every time he shut his eyes, he saw the lady. He didn't know what to think but hoped that they would stop.

Saturday had finally came and seeing that they weren't going to have practice for a whole week, Tezuka figured that they needed to practice. After two hours of playing with weights, running, Inui juice and playing as lefties, it was finally time to leave.

"Minna, practice is over for today. Remember, we're going with Rikkaidai to Kainite manor tomorrow. Be at Echizen's house at 10:15am sharp." Tezuka said.

"Ah." Everyone answered and went to the club room.

"Tomorrow should be fun!" Kikumaru said.

"Saa, we should do things like this more often." Fuji said.

"We've never done anything with Rikkaidai. It should be interesting." Taka said.

"Are you excited Echizen?" Momo asked with a cheeky smile.

"I guess." He answered as he left the room.

"Oi matte!" Momo said as he followed him out of the room.

"Echizen doesn't seem very excited to go." Oishi pointed out.

"Fsshhh, the only things he like are tennis and his cat." Kaidou said.

"This is going to be an interesting week." Fuji said.

* * *

Momo and Echizen met Ryoga at the front of the school. They walked for a while and as they got to their street, Echizen and Ryoga bit farewell to Momo and went home. On the way back to the house, Ryoga decided to confront his brother about why the necklace was so important.

"Ne, Chibisuke." He started.

"Nani?" Echizen answered.

"What's so important about that necklace?" Ryoga pointed to his neck.

Echizen stopped in his tracks and grabbed his jacket where the pendent was underneath. He really didn't know what was so important about it. He just knows that he needs to keep it on. He didn't know how to describe what he was feeling.

"Chibisuke?" Ryoga walked to him and looked in his eyes. They had fear and confusion reflected in them. "What's the matter?"

Echizen looked back at Ryoga but then behind him to see the girl. She had a look that seemed to say 'you should tell him but not here.' As soon as he blinked, she was gone.

"Chibisuke?" he placed his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"At home." he started walking again.

* * *

The walk back to the house was silent. Ryoga tried to start a conversation several times but when he was going to say something, he saw Echizen's face. It mirrored fear and misunderstanding. He didn't know what he could do to change that and to be honest, it scared him.

When they finally reached the house, they were greeted by Nanako's smile and Karupin. While Ryoga stopped to greet them back, Echizen went straight to his room. Ryoga immediately realized how serious the matter was. He knew that his brother loved that cat to death and would never in a million years ignore him.

He went straight up to Echizen's room to find him sitting at his desk looking at something. As he got closer, he realized that it was a note.

"What is that Chibisuke?" he asked.

Echizen didn't say anything but only handed it to him. Ryoga read through it and the look on his face turned from one of curiosity to one of rage and confusion.

"What the hell is this? Who gave this to you?" he asked in an angry tone as he slammed the paper on the desk.

"I don't know." Echizen got up from the desk and went to the bed.

"What do you mean you don't know? Are you being threatened by someone?" Ryoga pulled his arm. "Is that why you're wearing that necklace? Because someone will do something to you if you don't?"

"I don't know." He pulled his arm away and sat on the bed.

"And how does this person know that you're going to that house next week? Could this be someone from your class who's jealous of you?" Ryoga was almost shouting.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Echizen shoved his head into his hands and hunched over the bed. "I don't know who's doing this, I don't know why they're doing this, I don't know how they know me and I don't know why I've dreamt about it every night this week!"

Ryoga sat next to him on the bed. "What do you mean you've dreamt about it?"

Echizen sighed. He proceeded to tell Ryoga all the things that have happened; having the vision at practice, the girl giving him the envelope and warning him, the dreams of him being killed by a lady in a blood spotted dress in the house that they are going to in a few day, not being able to sleep properly because of the dreams every night. He didn't understand any of it. He wanted answers as much as Ryoga did.

Ryoga sat beside Echizen on the bed, trying to comprehend what he had been told.

"Every night, you've been having dreams and in every one of them, you end up getting stabbed by a lady in a yellow Victorian dress?" Ryoga tried to restate what was told to him.

Echizen didn't answer but fell back on the bed and placed his arm over his eyes.

"And you've seen a girl in yellow and red winter clothes and she's the one who gave you the note and necklace, saying it's for your own protection?"

Echizen nodded in agreement.

Ryoga sighed. He didn't understand anything about what Echizen just told him. He had a feeling of guilt seeing as all of this started when he showed up. He didn't know what he should do. He had no control over any of it and felt completely powerless.

"Chibisuke, with everything that you told me, are you okay with going tomorrow?" Ryoga asked with concern in his voice.

"It doesn't matter if I'm fine with it or not. I'm going." He answered.

"But what if something happens? What if this isn't just a coincidence?"

"What? What if it isn't just a coincidence? There's nothing I can do about it." he sat up. "I can't sleep and every time I shut my eyes, I see that lady. What if it doesn't stop? What if the only way to make it stop is to actually go there?" Echizen lowered his head. "I don't understand any of this. I want to know what's happening and the only way that is going to happen is if I go there."

Ryoga could tell that Echizen was sincere. He leaned on Echizen and slung his arm around his shoulders.

"If you feel that strongly about, I'll be with you." Echizen looked up at him. "I'll help you find out what this is all about."

Echizen smiled. Being able to tell someone about everything that happened took a weight off his shoulders. He was so relieved that Ryoga knew and that he was going to help him.

They sat on the bed in silence for a while, not really thinking about anything, just, reminiscing in old memories of when they were younger. They were just about to get up, Echizen got a message on his phone.

"It's from Yukimura-sempai." He said as he flipped it open. "How did he get my number?" he asked under his breath.

"What does he want?" Ryoga asked.

Echizen looked at his phone with annoyance. "He wants to know the address to the house." He gave Ryoga the same look. "Why did you have to tell everyone to meet here and not at school?"

"How was I supposed to know where you meet when you do things? I only said here because I was the one inviting everyone." He replied with a cross of his arms.

"I don't want to give anyone our address. My teammates only found out because Inui-sempai, Momo-sempai and Kikumaru-sempai followed me home after school when we didn't have practice."

"Well it's too late. Just tell him the address and be done with it."

Echizen gave him an 'I don't want to' look. Ryoga sighed, Echizen was being stubborn again. He knew that drastic measures had to be taken. As Echizen was about to put his phone, Ryoga tackled him and grabbed his phone. Through Echizen's protests and grabbing for the phone, Ryoga messaged Yukimura the address and told him to give it to all the other members. Shortly after, he received a message back saying that he was gonna have everyone meet at his house then go over but if it was alright to send it to everyone, then he would.

Ryoga smiled and tossed Echizen's phone to him. Echizen dead panned when he read the messages Ryoga sent.

"There now. Everything is settled." Ryoga said with a big grin as he pat Echizen on the back.

"Ryoma-san, Ryoga-san, dinner is ready." Nanako knocked on the door.

"Hai~." Ryoga gleefully answered. "Come on Chibisuke." He started out the door.

"RY-O-GA!"

Ryoga turned around to see flames behind Echizen. he sweat dropped several times and ran out the door with a very angry brother chasing after him.

* * *

_**Well, that chapter was short.**_** Yeah, writer's block does that to you sometimes. I'm trying to do this all quick but sometimes it doesn't turn out as planned.**

**Did ya like it? Ryoga finally knows what's going on. What will happen in chapters to come? Hell if I know.**

**One more thing, to anyone's knowledge, are any of the Rikkaidai regulars scared of ghosts like Kaidou is? If not, someone has a new fear :3  
**

**So, uh, yeah… Hope you liked it!**

**Forgive stupid mistakes!**

**Bye! **


	6. Arrival

**Well, I'm lying on my couch, watching zombie-horror movies with my sister, being bored. So I figured, why not start this chapter for everyone?**

**What's up peoples? It's effing hot so I have nothing better to do than write for you people. Just a heads up, I'll be gone Sunday-Wednesday. I'm going camping with my parents and brother. Just trying to enjoy the last three weeks of summer.**

**Okay so, I DO NOT own Prince of Tennis but the lady and girl in this story, I made them up so, I guess I own them.**

**Chapter 6. Have fun!**

* * *

Ryoga smiled and tossed Echizen's phone to him. Echizen dead panned when he read the messages Ryoga sent.

"There now. Everything is settled." Ryoga said with a big grin as he pat Echizen on the back.

"Ryoma-san, Ryoga-san, dinner is ready." Nanako knocked on the door.

"Hai~." Ryoga gleefully answered. "Come on Chibisuke." He started out the door.

"RY-O-GA!"

Ryoga turned around to see flames behind Echizen. he sweat dropped several times and ran out the door with a very angry brother chasing after him.

* * *

The night that followed was the most relaxing Echizen has had since the whole thing started. After chasing Ryoga around the house for at least half an hour, everyone sat down to eat. The conversation was pretty lively, or at least, more than it normally was. Echizen actually partook in the conversation. When a question was asked, he'd have an answer. When something was said, he'd either agree or disagree. Nanjiro was a little unnerved and suspicious about his actions.

"Oi seishounen, why are you so talkative?" he asked accusingly. "Did you do something illegal?"

"I'm not like you Oyaji. I'm shrewd." He even had witty come backs prepared.

"Maa, maa you two." Nanako said with a smile.

"Don't worry Tou-san. I'll make sure he doesn't get caught." Ryoga said with a joking smile.

Nanako let out a giggle. "By the way Ryoma-san, I've been meaning to ask, where'd you get that necklace? I think it's beautiful."

Echizen looked at her, reluctant to answer. Ryoga knew he didn't want to say anything so he took the initiative.

"That's part of a dare." He said with a mouthful of rice.

"A dare? What about?" She was curious.

"Well, at the beginning of this week, Momoshiro-kun dared Chibisuke to wear it all this week and next week because he needed more variety. If he takes it off at all, he'll have to drink Inui-kun's juice for a week straight."

"Oh my. That sounds fun." She smiled.

"Why a necklace? You can't even see it if he's wearing his uniforms. Why not something more visible?" Nanjiro complained.

"How should I know?" Echizen was playing along. "It was Momo-sempai's dare, not Inui-sempai's."

Everyone laughed. They don't remember the last time they had this much at the table. Maybe it was just because Ryoga was there or maybe it was the two of them going to the house tomorrow and they didn't know what was going to happen. For all they know, this could be their last meal together and they might as well enjoy it.

* * *

After dinner, the four of them watched TV for a little while then when to bed. Nanako never seemed to make a room for Ryoga so he's had to stay with Echizen the whole time.

"Ne, Chibisuke." Ryoga asked.

"Nani?" Echizen answered as he got into bed.

"Are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Come on Chibisuke. You mean to tell me that you're not the least bit worried?"

Echizen sat in bed. "I never said that. It's just-"

"I know. I don't want to think about it either." Ryoga sat on the bed. "Whatever happens, we'll be there for you."

"No. I don't want to get everyone else involved. They don't need to know about it." he shook his head in disagreement.

"They're going to find out sooner or later. Wouldn't it be better to tell them straight off?"

"Would they believe me if I told them straight off? You didn't."

"But if something were to happen-"

"Then that will be proof."

Ryoga sighed and rubbed his head. Once Echizen set his mind on something, it can't be changed.

"Fine." He moved for the bed to his futon. "I still think it would be better to tell them straight off."

"What are you doing?" Echizen asked.

"What do you mean?" a question mark popped off Ryoga's head.

"I promised you could sleep with me at some point this week. I don't make promises I can't follow up on." He scooted over to one side of the bed.

Ryoga's eyes lit up. "Ah! You mean it?!"

"If you don't hurry, Karupin will take your spot." Karupin got up from the end of the bed.

"Iya!" Ryoga jumped up from his spot and more or less cannonballed himself next to Echizen and got under the covers. "Waa, this is just like when we were younger."

"Exactly. I could never sleep when we were younger." Echizen laid down and pulled the covers. "Go to sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow."

Ryoga gave a lite chuckle and ruffled his brother's hair. "Wake me if you have a nightmare."

"Hai, hai." Echizen replied in a bothered tone. "Go to sleep."

Ryoga laid down and smiled. "Goodnight Chibisuke."

"Goodnight aniki."

* * *

The morning of the trip finally came. Echizen woke up to the sun's rays **(uber corny)** on his face. That night was quiet. He was able to sleep peacefully. He didn't have any dreams about the house or the girl or the lady in the yellow dress. That was his first night that whole week he actually got a good night sleep. He looked at the clock and saw that it was about twelve minutes after nine. When he tried to get out of bed, he noticed that Ryoga's arms were wrapped around his waist.

'_It is just like when we were kids.'_ He thought. "Oi, wake up. We have to get ready." He said as he shook Ryoga.

"Hmmm, yadda." He moaned.

"If you're not going to get up, at least let me go." He said trying to free himself.

"Yadda." Ryoga tightened his grip.

"Come on. Everyone will be here soon." He tried to slip out of Ryoga's grasp. Once he realized his efforts were, he decided to take drastic measures. "Karupin."

Karupin, who was lying at the foot of the bed, got up and very happily went to Echizen. He then proceeded to pick him up and set him on Ryoga. Karupin, being as happy as he was, started kneading him sending dozens of tiny needles into his back. Ryoga jumped up, releasing Echizen and gave a small shriek in pain, falling off the bed in the process.

"Mou, you're so mean Chibisuke." Ryoga said getting up from the floor.

"Maybe if you we're so heavy, I could have just rolled you off the bed." Echizen said as he got off the bed and went to the door.

"Nani?" a vein popped. Echizen took his tone of voice as a warning and quickly ran downstairs. Ryoga followed shortly after.

The two boys went running down the stairs only for Ryoga to trip and go tumbling down taking his brother with him. They both fell to the floor with a thud.

"Itai! What was that for?" Echizen whined as he tried to shove Ryoga off of him.

"I didn't mean it." Ryoga said as he got off him. "But you deserved it."

"For what?" he rubbed his head.

"You called me fat." Ryoga gently slapped him on the back of the head.

"I didn't call you fat. I called you heavy." Echizen got up from the floor. "There's a difference."

"What is it?" Ryoga also stood.

"How should I know? Asked Inui-sempai when he gets here." Echizen walked towards the kitchen.

"Don't spout things if you don't know if they're true." Ryoga sighed and followed him to the kitchen.

The brothers entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. Nanako looked like she was making a feast. She had made a mix of both American and Japanese breakfasts that could feed way for than just the four of them.

"Uno, Nanako," Ryoga started. "What's with all the food?"

"Ryoma-san, Ryoga-san, ohayou." She greeted them with a warm smile. "You're going away aren't you? That will be a week without a woman's cooking so I figured you can eat all this before you go."

Both of the boys sweat dropped as they watched her turn back to the stove and keep cooking. Did Nanako understand that they were going to come back after the week was done?

"We can't eat all this." Echizen blatantly said. "Plus we don't have time."

"I figured you'd say something like that. I took the liberty of preparing bentos that you can take with you of all the leftover food." She pointed to a counter for Echizen and Ryoga to see a mountain of bentos ready to be filled. "I think that should be enough for a week now sit down and start. I don't want all this to go to waste."

The two brothers looked at each other and sighed. They sat down at the table and began to eat the mounds of food in front of them. With every plate and bowl finished, two more seemed to take their places. Just as they were halfway through their second plates, the doorbell rang.

"Oji-san, can you get that?" Nanako asked.

"Ah? Why do I have to?" Nanjiro complained from his position on the floor. "It's not one of _my_ friends at the door."

Nanako, Echizen and Ryoga all sent him glares from where they were. The doorbell rang again.

"Oji-san!" Nanako put her hands on her hips.

"Nani?" he looked very annoyed.

Nanako reached into the front pocket of her apron and pulled out the latest issue of Nanjiro's magazines. She picked up a pair of kitchen shears and started cutting.

"Naaa!" he jumped up and started searching his robs. "How'd you get her?!"

"Mou, Oji-san is very careless when he sleeps." She continued to cut the magazine.

"What are you doing?! Stop it!" he ran at her but by the time he got there, the magazine was shredded beyond repair. Nanjiro dropped to the ground and gave light sobs. "H-How could you? She was so young. All of them were…"

The doorbell rang again. "Hai! One minute!" Nanako took out another magazine. "Oji-san, answer the door." She said in a threatening manner as she took the egg pan from the burner and put the magazine over it.

"NAA! Fine! Just don't hurt her!" Nanjiro's pleas could be heard as he ran down the hall to the front door and then shouts at the person who cost him one of his 'precious ones'.

"Ah. It's you." He scowled as he opened the front door to see Momo standing in front of him.

"What do you mean?" Momo raised an eyebrow.

"Pay no attention to him Momo-sempai." Echizen could tell from his father's tone that it was Momo who was at the door. "You can leave your bags in the room to your left."

"Hai." Momo said cheerfully.

Nanjiro moved out of his way and slowly and desolated walked back to the kitchen muttering things like 'Why her? She was so young, not even a week yet. You had to go and kill her.' and shot Momo a glare over his shoulder every few steps.

"Ohayou minna." Momo said as he walked into the kitchen. "Wa! What's with all of this food?!" he started to drool a little. "Echizen, do you eat like this every morning?"

Echizen sighed and Ryoga gave a lite laugh.

"Iya Momoshiro-kun. It seems that Nanako went a little over bored with food plans." Ryoga could see the drool flowing from Momo's mouth. "We can't possibly eat all of it. Would you care to join us?"

"Hai! Uno, if you don't mind." Momo happily took a seat at the table and started dishing out food. "Itadakimasu!"

Everyone watched as Momo went through plate after plate. He was like a human garbage disposal. Nanjiro watched in hatred and disgust. He had never seen anyone eat that much of Nanako's food at one time. He also kept cursing him under his breath for kill his 'lovely'.

After his third plate, it seemed like he was finally full. "Gah! That was delicious! I don't remember the last time I had a breakfast like that."

"What do you normally have?" Nanako pried as she finally stopped cooking and started putting things in the bentos for later.

"I have to make breakfast for my siblings so it's usually cereal or toast." He answered as he leaned back in the chair.

"You should come over for breakfast more often. We'd be happy to have you." Echizen shot Nanako a quick annoyed glare.

"Hai!" Momo gave Echizen a cheeky smile from across the table. Echizen shot his glare from Nanako to him.

"By the way, what are you doing here so early?" Ryoga asked as he took their plates to the sink.

"It was either come here or stay at my house for at least a few more hours trying to bath my siblings. I went with the latter." Momo said as he put his arms behind his head.

* * *

The three left the table, leaving Nanako to clean and Nanjiro to pick up the pieces of his destroyed magazine and went to the living room and watched a little TV. Ten o'clock rolled by and one by one everyone from each team showed up. Everyone was there by about 10:30am. While Echizen and Ryoga were gathering a few last minute things, everyone was either in the living room watching TV or, in most of the Rikkaidai cases, following Nanjiro around like lost kittens asking him questions.

By 10:45 everyone was ready to go. A bus had arrived outside and was waiting to take them to the mansion. They all piled in one by one and sat next to the person of their choice. When Echizen and Ryoga got on, it seemed they had more baggage than intended.

"What are in those bags Ochibi?" Kikumaru asked.

"Nothing." Echizen basically ignored his sempai and went to the back of the bus.

"Mou, Ochibi is so mean!" Kikumaru pouted.

"It seems that Nanako went over bored with breakfast." Ryoga smiled at him. "She put all the leftovers in these for us if we started to starve." He held up two bags full of bentos and pointed to the two bags his brother had.

"She made all of that?" Oishi was surprised.

"Plus the two plate I had and the two plates Chibisuke had and the three plates Momoshiro-kun had." Ryoga smiled and joined Echizen in the back of the bus.

"Seven plate plus about twelve bentos?!" Kikumaru counted on his fingers.

"And it was delicious!" Momo said as he took one of the seats across from Kikumaru and Oishi. "You should have seen it."

"Did you really eat three plates Momo?" Oishi asked.

"Ah! They were piled with food!" he answered.

"That's too much in the morning! You could get sick and then you wouldn't be able to come with us!" Oishi went mother hen on him.

"Fsshhh, you should eat a well-balanced breakfast to maintain a healthy body weight." Kaidou said as he took the seat behind Momo.

"Are you calling me fat?" Momo asked angrily.

"Fsshhh…"

"I've noticed that." Marui said at him and Jackal took the seat behind Oishi. "Momoshiro, every time I've seen you, you always seem to be eating. Why don't you ever gain weight?"

"Ah, you see…" Momo went on this big tangent about all the so called 'exercise' he secretly does.

* * *

Everyone piled on the bus and they were off. The trip didn't seem too long; everyone had preoccupied themselves with something to keep busy. Tezuka, Fuji, Sanada and Yukimura were playing poker, Inui and Renji were comparing notes, Hiroshi was bragging to Kaidou about various things he's done, Kaidou was getting very annoyed and had to be held back by Taka, Momo kept on his tangent about 'exercise' while Marui and Jackal listened, Oishi and Kikumaru were listening to music and Kirihara and Niou kept asking Echizen and Ryoga about their father and his past. Ryoga was happy to answer the questions but Echizen would've much rather fallen asleep and have everyone leave him alone.

They drove through the town and up into the mountains. It had started to snow on the way and Echizen seemed to be lost in it as he stared out the window. For a second, he forgot where he was going. He grabbed the necklace under his jacket and shut his eyes. He started hoping that everything was just a coincidence, that nothing was going to happen while they were there. He tightened his grip in the necklace and as he did, he heard a voice in his head.

"_We'll see you soon, Ryoma-kun."_

His eyes bolted open. The bus had come to a stop in front of the house. It looked just like it did in the picture on the brochure and in his dreams. He stared at it for a few minutes.

"Oi Echizen, this is our stop." Momo called to him as he exited the bus.

"Chibisuke." Ryoga leaned over the seat and whispered. "Come on. Everything will be fine."

Echizen sighed and picked up his bags. "There's no way you know that." He said as he brushed past his brother and exited the bus.

Everyone, once off the bus, thanked the driver and were left in front of the mansion. Echizen's eyes went straight to the window with the sapphire curtains. Luckily, there was no lady standing in it. He got a chill and it wasn't from the weather. The front door creaked open and a little old man came out.

"Welcome lads." His voice was raspy. "To you week stay at Kainite Manor."

* * *

_**Why did the old guy at the end address them as 'lads'?**_** I don't know. It sounded good in my head.**

**Well, there you have it. Chapter 6 is done. How was it? I think it turned out better than I had intended and it's over 3000 words so I think it makes up for chapter 5 being short. PROMISE that next chapter will have scary-ass things in it.**

**Sorry for the update wait. Got back from camping yesterday (Tuesday) and finished this chapter after I uploaded five and now I'm on to write seven!**

**Seeing as I have nothing left to distract me, except TF2 and shopping for school… ewww… school…, I can spend the last few measly days of my summer writing this for everyones.**

**Forgive stupid mistakes!**

**Bai for now!**


	7. More Questions, No Answers

**Oh my God, my interwebs are going so slow right now. Not that it matters. I don't need the interwebs to type but it's really, REALLY annoying when you need to look things up and upload new chapters and you have to wait like five minutes for each page to load.**

**Enough of my bitching. Hey everyone! How's it going? Hope everyone has enjoyed their summer and done lots of fun things. The only things I did was school, polo practice and camping. **_**Very**_** eventful.**

**Just an FYI, I don't know if any of the people from Rikkaidai know how to cook but in this story, Hiroshi does.**

**Whatever. I DO NOT own Prince of Tennis but I do have most of the episodes downloaded so, I sort of own them I guess.**

**Here is chapter 7. Have fun!**

* * *

"Chibisuke." Ryoga leaned over the seat and whispered. "Come on. Everything will be fine."

Echizen sighed and picked up his bags. "There's no way you know that." He said as he brushed past his brother and exited the bus.

Everyone, once off the bus, thanked the driver and were left in front of the mansion. Echizen's eyes went straight to the window with the sapphire curtains. Luckily, there was no lady standing in it. He got a chill and it wasn't from the weather. The front door creaked open and a little old man came out.

"Welcome lads." His voice was raspy. "To you week stay at Kainite Manor."

* * *

A series of 'oohs' and 'awes' came from the group of boys. It was exactly how it was in the picture on the brochure; the ground, roof and bushes were all covered in snow, the windows had black and sapphire curtains in them, the front door was oak with a pine furnish.

"If you follow me, I'll give you a tour of the house and show you where you'll be sleeping while you stay." The little old man waved his hand towards the boys and started walking back to the house.

"Hai." Everyone happily agreed and followed him into the house.

They all picked up there things and followed the man. Before Ryoga started behind them, he noticed Echizen staring at the window. He went to him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Chibisuke, don't worry. I'm here for you. We all are." He tightened his grip.

"Ah." He placed his hand on Ryoga's. They picked up their things and followed the rest of the group inside.

The inside of the manor was the same too. Everything was lavish with color and the chandelier were reflected the sun's light, lighting up the whole room. The same 'oohs' and 'awes' from outside had migrated to the inside and started echoing.

"Waa! This place is bigger than it seems!" Kikumaru said.

"We could get lost." Oishi said.

"If we do, Jackal can find the way out." Marui said.

"Who said I'm the one who's going to get lost?" Jackal complained.

"Don't worry boys. It's smaller than it seems." The old man said as he led them upstairs and into a hall. "These are the rooms you will be staying in while you're here." To the left of the stairs was a hall with five rooms on both sides of it and to the right was a pair of French doors opening to the backyard. "I suggest you all take this time to choose your rooms and who you will be with. You may choose any room you wish but the last room on the end" He started back down the stairs. "I'll be waiting downstairs when you're done."

"Well, how are we going to do this?" Yukimura said.

"There are nine rooms available." Inui started. "The best option would be-"

"-For us to sleep in groups of two." Renji finished.

"Saa, I think he mean who will be with who and where." Fuji said.

Just then, Echizen took his things and went to the middle room on the right hand side of the hall.

"Oi Chibisuke." Ryoga went after him. "Gomen minna. I guess we're taking this room."

No one really cared seeing that it was Echizen that did it. They did all think he was being a little strange though. He was more distant than usual and more compliant. All the times that Ryoga had come to visit, Echizen would ignore and argue with him more but this time, he seemed grateful that he was there. Even the Rikkaidai regulars thought something was strange and this was the first time they had met Ryoga.

"Did we miss something?" Kirihara asked as a question mark popped off his head.

"I wonder what's wrong." Taka said.

"Can we deal with it later?" Kaidou asked.

"These bags are starting to get heavy." Niou complained.

Everyone agreed and went to the rooms. Tezuka and Yukimura thought that it would be better for everyone to get to know each other if they bunked with someone from the other team. The pairs went as such: Tezuka and Yukimura, Inui and Renji, Kaidou and Niou, Taka and Sanada, Fuji and Hiroshi, Kikumaru and Marui, Oishi and Jackal, Momo and Kirihara and Echizen and Ryoga.

Everyone scattered and went to their rooms. There were some arguments about who would stay in what room but the captains quickly shut all the thought of moving and switching. They didn't want to take longer than they needed and really didn't want to deal with anything. While they were getting settled in, Echizen slipped out of his room and went downstairs.

The old man was standing at the bottom of the stairs, sitting in a rocking chair and smiling.

"Ah. Finished already?" he asked with a grin. "Where are the others?"

"They should be down in a few minutes." Echizen walked to the wall and placed a hand on it. "Ne Ojii-san, did this place have a fire at some point?"

"Yes. Two as a matter of fact, the first about six or seven years ago and the second about two years after that. How did you know?" the old man asked.

"Did anyone die in them?" he slid his hand down the wall and placed it at his side.

"Yes… three people did; a young lady, her sister and their brother." The man looked curiously at Echizen. "Did you know that we used to give tours and do reenactments of what life was like here back then?" Echizen looked at him with interest. "We did but since the fire-"

"Is that how it happened?" he asked.

The old man stopped his smiling and a serious glare to its place. "Be careful boy. Keep that on at all times. Don't do anything unnecessary." he pointed to the pendent around Echizen's neck. "Keep your friends close, try not to be alone. It's for your own good."

Echizen's eyes widened. "How do yo-"

"Oi Chibisuke!" Ryoga was leading everyone down the stairs. "Don't just disappear like that." He gave his brother a worried look. "What's wrong?"

"Iie… nothing." He looked back to the old man whose smile had returned.

"Now that everyone is here, how about we get on with the tour?" the old man said as he got up from his chair and started walking to another room.

"Hai!" Everyone followed the man to the next room. Echizen stayed behind, still a little shocked by what the old man told him.

"Chibisuke?" Ryoga peeked in from the other room. "We'll leave you behind." He noticed the confusion in his brother's eyes. "What's wrong?"

Echizen ignored him and gently placed his hand back on the wall. Just as his fingers touched, something flashed and the walls turned charred. He looked around to see the building was in utter ruins and out of surprise, he jolted his hand from the wall and everything was back to normal.

"Chibisuke." Ryoga placed his hand on Echizen's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Echizen sighed. "Let's go to the others." He brushed past Ryoga and went to join the others.

Ryoga stood there for a minute or two, perplexed by what just happened. He went to the wall and touched it just like his brother did but nothing happened. "What the hell is going on in this placed?" He took his hand from the wall and hurried to the others.

* * *

Ryoga joined Echizen and the others in the kitchen where they were mildly amused at Taka and Hiroshi. They were going through everything admiringly, looking at all the knives and advanced cooking supplies. The brochure was right; the kitchen was fit for the chef of a king.

"I think we know who's going to be in here." Ryoga shouted for the back of the group.

Everyone gave a hardy laugh as they saw them blush and put the knives back and rejoin the group. As they walked to another room, Echizen placed his hand on the counter top and again, there was a flash. Again, he found himself staring at a blackened room. The island that was in there was half destroyed, all the drawers were everywhere, splintered and burned, all the knives and utensils were scattered and there was a hole in the ceiling from upstairs.

He sighed again. "Nothing is going to be peaceful while we're here." He said under his breath.

He was right. It was like that for every room they went in was destroyed. The walls were charred, there were holes everywhere, in some the roof caved in and others the floor was completely gone. He didn't know why he kept touching the walls. He didn't like what he was seeing but it was like he couldn't help it, he _had_ to see it.

After twenty minutes or so, they had gone through the whole house. The old man told them that there was an attic and cellar if they needed more food or blankets. He gave Ryoga the keys to everything and watched as everyone scattered. Kikumaru, Momo, Oishi, Kirihara, Marui and Jackal ran to their rooms and came back down wearing jackets, scarfs, hats and gloves and ran outside to play in the snow. Taka and Hiroshi went back to the kitchen to explore the wonders that it held, Inui and Renji sat down at the table and started making notes and disagreeing of the percentages, Sanada, Niou, Fuji and Kaidou went to the living room and sat by the fire, Tezuka and Yukimura went back to their room to talk about things and Ryoga went from room to room again seeing which keys went where.

Echizen was left with the old man by the front door.

"How did you know about my necklace?" he asked.

The old man's smile faded. "You look like him."

"Like who?" Echizen raised an eyebrow.

The old man reached into his pocket and pulled out another key and handed it to Echizen.

"What's this for?" the key was one of the old fashioned ones; about two inches, bronze and looked like it would go to an old music box.

"You'll know when you need it." The old man's faced turned back to a smile. "I'll be back at the end of the week to help put everything back together and lock up." He grabbed his hat and jacket and when outside.

Echizen looked at the key in his hand for a second then ran outside to stop the old man. When he go to the door and looked outside, the old man was nowhere in sight. The only thing he could see were the six who ran outside to have a snowball fight.

"He couldn't have gone that fast." He said to himself. Just as he was going to take another step outside, a snowball hit him square in the face.

"Haha! Echizen, come join us!" Momo shouted to him from behind a snow fort.

"Ochibi! You can be on our team!" Kikumaru shouted.

Echizen wiped the snow from his face and gave them an annoyed glare.

"Yadda." He walked back into the house and shut the door.

"What are you doing? Come on. I'm going to go explore the attic and cellar." Ryoga said as he pulled on Echizen's hood.

"Fine." Echizen batted his hand away and walked with him to the cellar.

The door to the seller was just outside of the kitchen and unlike all the others, which were all modernized, this one still had a latch and padlock.

"Let's see what's down here." Ryoga went through the keys to find the only old fashioned looking one.

He found the key and opened the lock. The seller was dark. It seemed that was the only place so far that didn't have electricity. Ryoga fumbled around in the dark and found a gas lamp and some matches. He lit the lamp and he and Echizen ventured down into the cellar.

The stairs creaked and made a chill run up Echizen's back with every step. He never really liked basements or anything related. He didn't mind too much that it was a dark and dingy place but the fact that it was underground crept him out a little, not to mention that he was in a mansion where a homicidal ghost wanted him dead and basements and cellars were perfect places to stash the bodies.

"Waa, this place is cool!" Ryoga said as he looked around the shelves. "Ah! Chibisuke, come take a look at this!"

Echizen walked over to the only light source in the room. "What?"

"This is just like back home." Ryoga reached onto one of the shelves and pulled down a magazine.

Echizen looked at it with disgust. "Che. The last thing I want to be reminded of is that baka oyaji of ours." He shoved his hands in his pocket and headed back upstairs.

"Matte!" Ryoga whined as he went after Echizen.

Echizen didn't really care if he was reminded of his father, he actually felt a bit of comfort when he was. He just really needed a reason to leave the basement. Being down there, he felt like he was being watched, suffocated. He wished that he could just leave and everything would be fine.

"Chibisuke." Echizen heard Ryoga call to him but paid no attention. He was thinking, thinking about all the things the old man told him.

"Oi, Chibisuke." How did the old man know all of that? Should he believe him? What was the purpose of the key he was given?

"If you keep going like that, you're going to run into the wall." That caught Echizen's attention.

"Itai." He looked up from his feet. He did run into the wall.

"Chibisuke, you can't tell me that nothing's wrong." Ryoga placed his hand on Echizen's shoulder. "What are you thinking about that has you zoned out so much?"

Echizen rubbed his forehead and sighed. "I can't touch anything. Every time I do, everything looks smoldered and charred."

"Like there was a fire?" Ryoga asked.

"There were two fires. I asked the old man." Echizen gave Ryoga a sorrowful look. "Ryoga, he seemed to know a lot more about this than I do"

Ryoga returned Echizen look of sorrow with one of sympathy. He slung his arm around his brother as they walked upstairs to the attic. "Don't worry. We'll think of something but until then, let's try to have a good time."

Echizen look of sorrow turned into a lite smile but beneath, he was still worried.

* * *

**I was having a total brain storm while writing this. Hopefully I can fit all the ideas into the next few chapters somehow.**

**Welp, there you have it. A few little secrets came out. **_**Oh! What's the key for?!**_** I have no idea as of now. **_**You really suck at having things planned out ahead.**_** Yeah, I've been told that many times before.**

**I was originally going to have Jackal be the one from Rikkaidai who knew how to cook but figured it suited Hiroshi better.**

**Any confusion on anything, just ask!**

**Forgive stupid mistakes!**

**See everyones laterz!**


	8. Half Truth

**Chapter 8. Let's see how it goes.**_** You've got a lot of explaining to do.**_** Yeah? Sue me.**

**Yo everyone! How's it hanging? School starts a week from Monday and I for one am not excited at all.**

**Umm, let's see, preoccupied with X-Men and Dead Rising right now but I'll do my best not to let this story become a part of my procrastination list.**

**It's been bugging me by saying 'Echizen' and then putting 'Ryoga' right after it so I might switch off calling him 'Echizen' and 'Ryoma', mainly only if there's dialog between Ryoga and Ryoma. If it gets to be too much, I'll stop. **

_**IluvSilverShadow**__**: **_**I know. I confused myself reading it. I'm always one chapter ahead and update whenever I finish the next. So, you wrote that for chapter six and I've already uploaded chapter seven and don't feel like changing it so that's why you're getting your answer in chapter eight… I think… That's why a lot of things seem late and yes, I know. My Japanese is **_**very**_** informal. In all my years in school, I have never taken any Japanese classes. I only know a few things and that's mainly from watching anime and what my sister has told me :3 so whatever you think is says, it probably does. So yeah, things like 'uno' and related to that will be like 'umm' and 'iya' like 'iie' and no. You're not a jerk. **_**Writer **__**Constructive Criticism**__** Awesome Story XD**_

_**Dragon of Despaire**__**:**_** I know right? I thought about it but I didn't really think about how to fit him in the story besides comforting Ryoma and Kaidou when things happen :P**

_**FranscoiseLaraLapis**__**:**_** Umm, I wasn't quite sure what you were asking . but I do write the chapters one at a time and sort of make it up as I go. I have a notepad on my desk top where I put ideas that I can hopefully fit into the story somehow but other than that, no, I have no idea what I will put into the next chapter. Ummm, I'm always one chapter ahead though. Look above in **_**IluvSilverShadow**__**'s**_** answer to see if that's the answer to your question. Sorry if it didn't help :{**

**Before I announce that this is chapter 8, I would just like to say that I DO NOT own Prince of Tennis.**

_**Will things get explained?!**_** Probably not. **_***throws all the things* **_**Knock me out and you'll never get your story. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!**

**Chapter 8. Enjoy!**

* * *

Echizen rubbed his forehead and sighed. "I can't touch anything. Every time I do, everything looks smoldered and charred."

"Like there was a fire?" Ryoga asked.

"There were two fires. I asked the old man." Echizen gave Ryoga a sorrowful look. "Ryoga, he seemed to know a lot more about this than I do"

Ryoga returned Echizen look of sorrow with one of sympathy. He slung his arm around his brother as they walked upstairs to the attic. "Don't worry. We'll think of something but until then, let's try to have a good time."

Echizen look of sorrow turned into a smile.

* * *

"How can someone have a good time in this place?" Echizen said with a smirk as he and Ryoga walked past the living room. An idea popped into his head. "It's cold, in the middle of nowhere and not to mention what the old man said." He glanced toward Kaidou in the living room.

Ryoga caught his brother's glance and immediately knew what he was doing. "What do you mean? What did the old man tell you?" He was half kidding and half serious when he asked this. He knew that Ryoma was left alone with the old man for a little while and really wanted to know what he was told but for now he would play along with whatever Ryoma was planning.

Ryoma noticed the seriousness in Ryoga's voice and decided to reply to his half serious question with a half serious answer. "The old man told me that there were fires here and that three people passed away." He saw Kaidou flinch. "He also said that their ghosts haunt this house and we need to be careful or we'll be next."

Just before walking from the doorway, Echizen caught sight of Kaidou and let out a small snicker. His eyes were wide and the color had faded from his skin. Fuji looked up from his book and smirked. He knew where this was going.

"I hope nothing happens to us while we're here." Ryoga said as he and Ryoma went on their way to find the attic.

"Ghost huh?" Niou said as he looked at the interior of the house. "This place is old. What do you think Sanada? Fuji?"

"No such thing." Sanada answered with a straight face.

"Saa, anything is possible." Fuji gave a quick glance to Kaidou. "But until there is proof, I'll have to doubt it."

"Really? You don't believe even a little? Too bad" he slung his arms behind his head. "How about you Kaidou?"

"O-Of course not." Kaidou tried to hide his fear. "Who would believe that?"

"Oh, come on now. Don't say that. A lot of people believe in the paranormal. I do." Niou smirked. "And I know Kirihara does too."

"Leave him alone." Sanada said. "We don't need an incident li-"

"He's gone." Fuji said as he pointed out of the room.

Sanada sighed as he looked out the window and saw Niou outside with Kirihara, no doubt telling him what he just heard. Fuji smirked and went back to reading.

* * *

"Did he really say that?" Ryoga asked as he and Ryoma went up the stairs and to the right. The opening to the attic was adjacent to the French doors.

"Say what?" Ryoma replied.

"Did he really say that there were ghosts in this house and that if we weren't careful we were going to be next?" he asked in a rushed tone as so no one could hear them as he opened the lock to the attic.

"Not really…" Ryoma was reluctant to answer.

"What do you mean 'not really'?" they both walked up the stairs and into the attic. "What did he tell you?"

"He knew about the necklace." Ryoma went to one end of the attic while Ryoga went to the other. "Three people died in those fires and they liked to do reenactments and he said that I look like… like…" Ryoma trailed off.

"Look like what?" Ryoga was rummaging through things. "Like what Chibisuke?" The silence that followed made him turn. "Chibisuke?"

Ryoga saw his brother kneeling on the ground in front of an old chest with a picture in his hand.

"I look… like him." Ryoma handed Ryoga the picture. The frame was a little burnt and the glass was cracked but the picture itself was relatively fine.

Ryoga took the picture. There were three people in it; two girls and a boy. The eldest lady in the picture looked as if she was in her late twenties or early thirties. She was wearing an old style bonnet and a long flowy dress. The girl next to her looked to be in her early twenties, just a few years older than Ryoga. She was in more modern clothes. His eyes widened when he saw the boy in the picture. He looked like Ryoma or more so, Ryoma looked like him seeing that the boys was older than him but younger than Ryoga.

"Are these the girls that you've been seeing?" he asked giving the picture a little shake.

Ryoma didn't answer. He sat in a dead silence on the floor. It almost seemed like he was in shock. He didn't want to believe that everything that happened was real. He wanted to believe that it was all a coincident or a really long dream at that. Sudden realization hit him; the girl, the woman, the dreams, they had all really happened. His mind went to the dreams that he was having the week before. He died in every single one of them.

Ryoga slowly walked towards his brother. Ryoma's head was tilted down and his hand was clutching the pendent around his neck.

"Chibisuke?" Ryoga tried to wrap his arm around Ryoma only to have it swatted away and then have him jump up and run out of the attic. "Oi!"

Ryoga put the picture down and ran out of the attic after him.

* * *

**Outside just before Niou ran out **

"Haha! Ten points!" Kikumaru shouted as a snowball hit Kirihara in the face.

"Aurg!" Kirihara wiped the snow from his face. "You're going to pay for that sempai!"

"Good one Eiji-sempai!" Momo said as he threw a snowball.

"Eiji be careful!" Oishi said. "We don't want anyone injured and hav-" a snowball hit him in the face

"Ah! Oishi!" Kikumaru ran to his side. Laughing could be heard from the other end of the yard.

"You always have good aim Jackal!" Marui said. "Watch me now." Marui gathered up some snow, formed it into a ball and threw it. His aim was nowhere _near_ as good as Jackal's. In fact, it, rather than going straight to the fort on the other side of the lawn, curved to the left and hit an unsuspecting Niou in the face.

"Marui, you need to stay with making snowmen." Niou said as he wiped the snow away. Marui sweat dropped and looked down in defeat.

"What are you doing Niou-sempai?" Momo asked as he, Oishi and Kikumaru emerged from their fort and walked towards him.

Niou got a mischievous smile and walked over to Kirihara. "Did you know?"

"Know what?" Kirihara asked as he made a snowball.

"This place is haunted."

Kirihara stopped patting the snow and let it fall from his hands. "N-Nani?" he asked in a 'I don't care' tone.

"Ah. Echizen-kun told me. This place is haunted." Niou's smile got bigger.

"Really?" Kikumaru asked. "Ochibi did?"

"He said that there were fires here and that three people died and their spirits stay here and haunt the living." He went right by Kirihara's ear and whispered in a deep voice. "And if we're not careful… we're next."

Kirihara looked up in horror at the house and dead panned. "Y-You're lying…" he said in a not to confident voice.

"Am I?" Niou questioned.

"Really?" Momo asked. "Are there really ghost here?"

"Why would I lie about it?"

"To scare people." Jackal said.

"That's so cool!" Kikumaru said. "I've always wanted to see a ghost!"

"But didn't you just say that it was dangerous?" Oishi asked Niou.

"Not 'it', 'they'. More than one." His smile grew as he watched the horror on Kirihara's slowly get more visible.

"Hm? What's wrong Momo?" Marui asked.

Momo's smile was much like Niou's. "Ne, isn't the Mamoshi scared of ghosts?"

Oishi turned to him with a disapproving glare and sighed. "I know what you're thinking Momo, don't-"

"He's gone." Kikumaru said as he gestured to the house.

"Ne Mamoshiiii!" they could hear Momo calling to Kaidou.

"This can't turn out good." Oishi and the others followed him inside.

* * *

The others came in just in time to see Momo teasing Kaidou and reminding him about the other times he ran at the mention of a ghost.

"-and then you ran out of the class screaming!" Momo laughed out.

"Urasai!" Kaidou shouted.

"Mou, it's okay Kaidou-kun." Momo teasingly said as he slung his arm around Kaidou. "You'll have Niou-sempai to protect you. And I'm sure that Fuji-sempai could show them a thing or two."

The color in Kaidou's face started to drain. Niou actually _believed_ in ghosts and seemed to know something about it _and_ they were roommates and seeing the smile appear on Fuji's face didn't comfort him either.

"Don't worry Kaidou. I'll explain the afterlife to you later so that you have a better understand and won't be scared." Niou said half teasing.

"Saa, I wonder if ghosts can die twice." Everyone sweat dropped as the smile on Fuji's face grew. They could never and would never understand him.

Everyone laughed when Niou said he'd explain it to Kaidou, figuring that it would be in detail, knowing that it would only traumatize him even more. Kirihara's eyes showed sympathy for him but was thankful that he wasn't Niou's roommate. He scoffed in thankfulness. Kaidou caught his scoff and sent him a look saying, 'At least he's not my teammate.'

Everyone laughed at the sight of the color in both Kaidou's and Kirihara's slowly drained away and Momo and Niou kept making things up from what they had been told when Kikumaru caught sight of Echizen running past the room.

"Ochibi!" he ran out and pounced on him before he could get any father. "Is it true? About people dying in a fire and haunting this house?"

Echizen was silent.

"Ochibi?" Kikumaru loosened his grip. He looked to Echizen's face and saw pain and horror reflected in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

Echizen took this opportunity to break free of his grasp and run upstairs.

"Ah Ochibi!" he reached an arm out to catch him but stopped himself.

"Eiji-sempai, where'd Echizen go?" Momo asked as he and the others popped their heads out of the living room and into the hall.

Kikumaru turned to face them. "Ochibi-"

"Minna!" he was cut off by Ryoga running to them. "Did Chibisuke come past here?"

Before anyone had a chance to answer, they heard a door slam upstairs. Ryoga sat on a chair in the hall and sighed.

"Did something happen?" Sanada asked speaking for the first time since the six entered from outside.

"You could say that." He answered with another sigh and placed his hand over his eyes and slid it down to his mouth.

"Are _you_ alright Ryoga-san?" Oishi was turning mother hen.

"Hm? Ah, I'm fine. Just little stressed. I've a lot on my mind right now." His head rested in his hands.

"What was that slam?" Taka and Hiroshi entered from the kitchen.

"Echizen's just throwing a tantrum." Kirihara said.

"It's a bit more complicated than that Kirihara-kun." Ryoga said.

"What's a bit more complicated?" Yukimura and Tezuka came down stairs.

"Echizen has locked himself in his room." Tezuka said.

"Great." Ryoga sarcastically said under his breath just enough for no one to here.

"Ryoga-san, what's wrong?" Fuji asked genuinely concerned.

"According to our calculations-" Renji started.

"-what's wrong with Echizen is-" Inui didn't have time to speak.

"Inui-kun, Renji-kun, please." Ryoga said. "Now's not the time."

Everyone was a bit confused. It wasn't the time? Time for what? What was he talking about and what had Echizen storm upstairs? There was an awkward silence for a minute or two until Hiroshi decided to change it.

"If anyone cares, dinner is ready." Everyone had been enjoying themselves that they hadn't noticed that quite a bit of time had passed and it was starting to get dark.

"So that's what I smelt." Momo said as his stomach growled.

"Come to think of it, we haven't eaten since we got off the bus." Jackal said as his and everyone else's stomach started growling.

Everyone laughed as their stomachs growled in unison. They all quickly forgot about what just happened and made their way to the dining room. Fuji, however, stayed in the hall with Ryoga.

"Ryoga-san-" Fuji sat in the chair next to him.

"Fuji-kun," he balanced his elbows on his knees and rested his head on his hands. "Nothing here is what it seems."

"What do you-" Fuji's tone was confused.

"We need to be careful." Ryoga's tone was that of caution.

Fuji watched as Ryoga went into a trance-like state for a few seconds. He knew that Ryoga was in deep thought about something he just didn't know what. Ryoga came out of his trance and gave Fuji a smile.

"What are we still doing here?" he got up and stretched. "We should join the others." He said as he started walking in the other room.

"What about Echizen?" Fuji got up.

Ryoga sighed. "He won't come down. He needs time to think right now." He stretched his arms. "No need to worry right now. I'll save him something and bring it up later." Ryoga gestured for Fuji to follow him into the dining room.

'_There's more going on here than we know.'_ He thought to himself as he gave the stairs one last look before following Ryoga to the other room where everyone else was.

* * *

Echizen was huddled in a ball on his bed in his room. He wanted to be comforted, he _needed_ to be comforted. With everything that happened in the few short hours he was there, he got a lot more information and proof that everything that happened the week before wasn't just a series of coincidences.

He was a little disappointed that Ryoga hadn't followed him upstairs even though he would've probably shut him out anyway. He was scared. He felt like there were eyes watching him even if no one was there. He clenched the pendent around his neck. Would it really help if he needed it? A chill went up his spine. He could smell Taka's and Hiroshi's cooking downstairs. He wanted to go down and eat with everyone but felt that if he left the room, something would happen.

He wrapped a blanket around his shoulders. The blanket brought the smell of smoke with it. Echizen was perplexed. Why did it just now start to smell? Why didn't he smell it sooner? He turned his head in several directions, trying to find the source when his eyes fixated on the crack beneath the door. A gray smog was seeping in. he sat on the bed and watched as the door slowly opened and smoke came blasting in. It covered the whole room and made it hard to breathe.

Echizen jumped from the bed going towards the window but tripped on the blanket and fell to the floor. He faced the doorway and saw a figure standing in it with flames in the background. The smoke was getting thick making it hard to see the figure but enough to know that someone was standing there but no features were seeable. The flames engulfed the room and went to the ceiling, catching the old beams on fire.

Echizen struggled to get up and find a way out but the beams were older than they looked and burned quickly. He was able to get up and go towards the door but the figure was still there, burning with the fire.

"_You're not going anywhere." _The voice was that of a lady. She grabbed Echizen's arm and pulled him closer. He felt a similar stabbing pain in his stomach and there again was a knife sticking out of his abdomen. He almost fell to the floor but was jerked to the side and pulled into the middle of the room.

"_We'll be together again, little brother."_ She held Echizen in her arms as the room was completely engulfed in the flames and the rafters holding the ceiling up fell.

* * *

**Finally. Scary-ass stuff happened! **_**It wasn't really scary, more like disturbing than scary. **__I disagree. I thought it was scary and disturbing._** Whatever it is, it finally happened!**

**Chapter 8, done. This chapter took longer than usual and not just because it's one of those longer chapters. I got sort of side tracked by reading **_**Transformers**_ **fan fiction but it's done. I finally finished. Claps for me :D**

**Did ya like it? Hopefully. I put my heart and soul into this! **_**Liar.**_** Yeah, okay I didn't but I **_**did**_** put in a little extra effort at the end with Echizen's scene. Not much but extra nonetheless. Somehow, I think all of my better ideas for the stories come out at night. I finished this at 1:16am so if it seems better than normal, we know why.**

**Poor Kaidou, being with the supernatural expert for one whole week, in a haunted house, with a homicidal ghost on the loose. How could things get any worse? **_**You're never supposed to ask that! Haven't you watched any recent horror movies!? Things can always get worse!**_

**Wellllll, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and will stay with me for the next!**

**Forgive idiotic mistakes!**

**Baaaaai!**


	9. Past and Plan

**Oh my God, I just realized, I thought I had another week left BUT THIS IS THE LAST ONE! *shoots herself* **_**Noooo! My story!**_** Thanks for caring about me guys -_-**

**Whooooo! Hey everyone! Just got up and had Trolli ™ for breakfast! Let's see, I got my schedule for school, I have Algebra 2, AP 3-D, Accounting, Japanese, English and Polo. I don't know why I have accounting, I should have econ… stupid councilor, no I shouldn't say that, she's nice to me.**

**I know I haven't said this much or at all but thanks for reviewing everyone! It does make me want to keep going and some of your comments give me idea's to add :D**

**Until it is settled in court, I DO NOT own Prince of Tennis.**

**Chapter 9. Enjoy!**

* * *

Echizen struggled to get up and find a way out but the beams were older than they looked and burned quickly. He was able to get up and go towards the door but the figure was still there, burning with the fire.

"_You're not going anywhere." _The voice was that of a lady. She grabbed Echizen's arm and pulled him closer. He felt a similar stabbing pain in his stomach and there again was a knife sticking out of his abdomen. He almost fell to the floor but way jerked to the side and pulled into the middle of the room.

"_We'll be together again, little brother."_ She held Echizen in her arms as the room was completely engulfed in the flames and the rafters holding the ceiling up fell.

* * *

Echizen sprung up in a cold sweat. His breathing was hard. He looked around the room in revulsion expecting to see smoke and fire. He looked to the ceiling to see the rafters still in tack. He gave a heavy and relieved yet anguish filled sigh, it was just a dream… A dream, they were starting again. He didn't remember falling asleep or even being in his bed. He looked at the bed next to his to see Ryoga sleeping soundly. He must have done it.

He looked down at his stomach. He died in his dream again. Unlike the other times where he would wake up and everything would be fine so to say, this time his stomach hurt. He didn't eat dinner but it didn't hurt from hunger. He felt sick. He silently got out of bed and hobbled towards the bathroom.

He walked pass Momo and Kirihara's and Kikumaru and Marui's open rooms and let out a small chuckle. Momo was lying horizontal on his bed while Kirihara was curled in a ball at the end of his. Kikumaru was sleeping in the wrong direction and Marui was almost completely on the floor. He was sort of jealous that they were able to sleep in those positions and get a good night sleep while he slept normally and couldn't.

He made it into the bathroom and slouched over the sink. He knew that he wasn't going to be sick but he stayed there just in case. He looked at himself in the mirror. His skin was pale and he had small bags under his eyes. The lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with him.

'_Oishi-sempai will make a big deal out of it.'_ He thought to himself. He turned on the faucet in the sink and splashed water on his face. The water made him feel slightly better and more awake. He didn't know what time it was but figured he wasn't going to get anymore sleep that night. He went out of the bathroom and passed the open rooms again and gave a small laugh again. The four were in completely different positions which looked even more uncomfortable than the first time.

Just as he was going into his room, he noticed a light coming from the crack under the door of the attic. This puzzled him for a moment because the only source of light in there was a small octagonal window that let the perfect amount of light in and seeing that it was sometime during the night, there should be no light in there. He went to the door to try and open it to find the source but discovered it was locked. He went back to his room, got the keys from the drawer Ryoga had placed them in and returned to the attic door and opened it.

The light at the top of the stairs seemed to dim as he entered. He cautiously went up the steps to see a candle lit on one of the many crates that were stored there.

'_What's this doing here?'_ He went over to it and as he was going to blow it out, he saw the picture he was looking at earlier that day. He picked it up and shuddered. "I really do look like him."

"That's why you must be careful." Echizen jumped when he heard a voice behind him. He quickly turned to see the younger girl in from the photo standing behind him. "Gomen Echizen-kun. I didn't mean to startle you."

"Iya, it's fine." After all the times Inui has popped up out of nowhere he was almost used to it. He turned his attention back to the picture. "This was your sister and brother?"

She took the picture from his hands. "Ah. My elder sister, Kimi and my younger brother Daisuke."

"And you?" she looked at Echizen curiously. "What's your name?"

She smiled. "Aya." Her smile faded and turned into a look of sorrow and guilt. "I'm sorry Echizen-kun."

Echizen shook his head, not needed to ask why she was sorry. "It's not your fault. It would have happened sooner or later wouldn't it?"

"I wish I could help you with all this but…"

"Some things must make themselves known?"

She let a small chuckle escape her mouth. "Time has a strange way of revealing secrets." She set the picture down and picked up the candle. "Do you know why this room is the only one that doesn't appear burned when you touch it?"

It hadn't even occurred to him. He walked over to the wall and touched it, nothing happened. He took his hand from the wall then placed it in a different spot; still nothing. "Why?"

"This is all that's left of the original house. The first fire pretty much destroyed the interior except for this room and some of the supporting beams downstairs." Aya began down the stairs and gestured for Echizen to follow.

"Is that how you lost your brother?" Echizen asked cautiously.

She gave Echizen a sad glance over her shoulder, not needed to say what he already knew. They made it down the steps and after locking the attic back up, Aya led him to the living room where they as in silence for a few minutes.

"He died doing what he loved." She finally broke the silence. "He loved history. It was his favorite subject in school and when he heard that there were reenactment jobs open he jumped at the idea." She let a small smile crawl onto her lips. "Kimi loved him to death. She loved to spoil him, though, she was never as close to him as I was. I think she was even jealous of our close bond. They didn't have as much in common and I think that's the main idea why she took the job with him."

"She just wanted to get to know him better?" Echizen questioned.

Aya shook her head. "Not exactly. I think she wanted to have more things in common and a closer bond. With Kimi being twenty-nine and Dai being nineteen, they had different views on almost everything."

"Why did she take the job if they weren't that close then?"

"That's exactly why she took the job. She wanted a closer bond with him. Dai had originally asked me to take the job with him seeing that I was good at history and he loved it but I didn't take it. That's why I was in more modern clothing in the picture in the attic."

"Why did you refuse?"

"I knew how much it meant to her. This was a great opportunity for them to spend time with just each other." her face darkened. "It was all going fine until that day." Echizen leaned in closer but said nothing. "Their work for that day was over. Everyone had already left and it was their turn to close. Kimi was in the front parlor waiting for Dai. It was his turn to refill all the oil lamps."

* * *

**Flashback**

"_Dai, hurry up! It's getting colder every second!" Kimi playfully whined._

"_I would go faster if you would help me." Dai shouted from the other room._

"_Nuh. You never help me when I had to do it." she complained._

"_You never asked." he laughed. "Just a few more minutes. I still need to refill the ones in the kitchen."_

_There was no moon that night so everything was darker than usual. Almost no light shined through the windows. Even the street lamps were darkened. Dai made his way into the kitchen which was practically pitch black._

"_Kowaii!" he playfully shouted to his sister. "It's really dark in here! I can't see anything!"_

'_Then you won't see me coming to get you.' She thought to herself thinking this was the perfect opportunity to get him back for last time._

_Dai fumbled around in the dark until he found a lamp. It still had some oil in it and he needed light. He started looking on his person to see if he had any matches. Kimi slowly and quietly creeped through the hall and made it to the kitchen threshold. As she was about to walk in, a strange smell hit her._

'_Methane?' she thought as she took another sniff._

"_Here it is." Dai said as he took a match book out of his pocket._

"_Dear God, DAI DON'T!" she shouted._

"_Nee-san?" Dai whipped around to try and see his sister and as he did, he lit a match._

* * *

**Flashback End**

"The room exploded in an instant. Apparently the stove was left on and the gas that was used had filled the whole room." Aya held back her tears.

Echizen sat quietly on the couch next to her hugging his knees. "But… if he smelt the gas, why did he still lite the match?" he asked ever so carefully trying to word it best he could without sounding snarky.

"He had lost his sense of smell when he was a baby. I don't know exactly what happened but," she let out a giggle. "I do know in contained lots of wasabi."

Echizen let out a smile and thought of Fuji. Maybe that's how he can stand Inui's drinks. Maybe _he_ had a wasabi incident.

"Kimi ran into the room and pulled him out and went outside. The flames were spreading very quickly and engulfed the house in a matter of minutes… she sat with him outside in the snow until the ambulance arrived but it was too late. Dai had died in her arms with a smile on his face." A single tear ran down Aya's face.

Echizen sat in silence. He was pinning everything together trying to figure out why Kimi wanted him dead. "What does this have to do with me?" he asked in a quiet voice. "I know I look like him but other than that…"

"That was seven years ago." Aya paid no attention to Echizen's question and continued with her story. "Kimi was offered time off from the job so she could have time to cope and recover from the trauma but she refused and went back that week. She seemed perfectly fine, so to say." She got up and went to a window leaving Echizen in a bunched up position on the couch. "A few years went by and everything seemed to almost be back to normal. Kimi had missed her bus that night and asked for me to come pick her up. I arrived at the house but Kimi wasn't waiting outside like she normally did. I went inside and found her sitting on the couch with her wrists slit."

Echizen cringed at the thought of suicide. How could someone go through with taking their own life?

"I ran to her, screaming and yelling, asking what she had done. When she didn't answer, I immediately tried to call emergency help but she grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me into a hug. The only other things I remember is a shape pain in my stomach and the smell of methane from the kitchen and before I knew it, everything was white and I was… like this."

Echizen didn't know what to do or say. He had just heard how someone died _from_ the _person_ that died. He pulled his knees in closer and started shaking. Aya sat back next to him on the couch.

"Echizen-kun, my sister believes that you are the reincarnation of our brother. After we became… like this, Kimi went off in search of Dai but found you instead. I tried to explain to her that you weren't him but she didn't listen. When she tried to interact with you, I think that was when she realized you were still living."

"And now she wants me dead because I'm a supposed reincarnation of your brother and killing me is the only way to get him back?" Echizen's words were harsh but filled with fear.

"I am doing all I can to make her understand. Echizen-kun, we are somehow stuck in limbo. The only reason Dai isn't is because he was content with everything that had happened. As far as I know, the only way to free us is to somehow put our spirits to rest."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"I… I'm sorry but I don't know. Echizen-kun," she gripped his hand. "Please believe me that when I say I will do everything in my power to help you with this and I think it would be better if you explain the situation to your companions."

"How am I supposed to do that? 'Minna, we've brought you up here to help put a homicidal ghost, who is content on killing me, and her sister to rest?' I don't think that they'll take me seriously. The only ones who will maybe believe me are Kirihara-sempai and Kaidou-sempai but only out of fear."

Aya smiled a mischievous smile. "I believe I can help persuade them to the truth."

Echizen returned her smile with his own and a raised eyebrow. "Oh? How do you intend to do that?" with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"Just be prepared tomorrow." She smiled and got off the couch heading for the hall. "Echizen-kun, if you're worried about them, I swear to you, nothing will happen to them."

Echizen rolled his eyes. "Who would be worried about them?" he smiled and yawned. Apparently, the explanation eased his mind enough to go back to sleep.

Aya giggled. "See you tomorrow, Echizen-kun." And like that, she disappeared into the hall and out of sight.

* * *

_**Yay! You didn't shoot yourself! Now I get my story!**_** I might, seeing that, by the time you read this, it will probably be past Monday and I might shoot myself seeing that Monday is-, was-, the start of school and I **_**so**_** don't want to go back.**

**There it is. Chapter 9. Everything is out in the open. Exposed if you please. **_**No! My eyes! Put it away!**_** Haha. You'd like that wouldn't you?**

**Sorry if all of this seems late. I've been preoccupied with **_**Transformers**_** fan fiction… I think I said that already… oh well.**

**Just in case anyone was wondering or confused, **_**limbo**_** is supposed to be the dimension or space that exists between heaven and hell… at least I think it is…**

**Forgive stupid mistakes!**

**This chapter took about three or four day. Let's see how long for chapter 10!**

**See ya then!**


	10. Skeptics

**Chapter ten. Finally.**

**First off, I would like to say thanks to **_**FranscoiseLaraLapis**_** for pointing out some mistakes in chapter 8. I went back and fixed them :3 And please everyone, don't feel mean if you correct me. I am very grateful for it.**

**Yo guy! It is currently 23:37pm Friday night and 72 degrees out… god it's hot. And having writer's block doesn't help either.**

**Thanks for reviewing! **_**If we didn't, you wouldn't write.**_** Damn straight I wouldn't. and thanks for putting up with all of my crazy shite! **_**Again, if it keeps you writing…**_** ALL THE CRAZINESS!**

**Well, by the time this is read by you guys, school has probably already started and I will have either shot myself of was content with my classes and procrastinated on my homework to write this for you and seeing that I'm not dead, I think I've put homework on my procrastination list.**

**FYI, all the 'believing in ghosts' business in this chapter, other than Kaidou and Kirihara and **_**maybe**_** Hiroshi, I'm pretty much basing it on me and my friends on where we believe.**

**If I did own Prince of Tennis, weird things would happen so be glad that I DO NOT own Prince of Tennis.**

**Whelp, here's Chapter 10. Enjoy!**

* * *

Echizen returned her smile with his own and a raised eyebrow. "Oh? How do you intend to do that?" with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"Just be prepared tomorrow." She smiled and got off the couch heading for the hall. "Echizen-kun, if you're worried about them, I swear to you, nothing will happen to them."

Echizen rolled his eyes. "Who would be worried about them?" he smiled and yawned. Apparently, the explanation eased his mind enough to go back to sleep.

Aya giggled. "See you tomorrow, Echizen-kun." And like that, she disappeared into the hall and out of sight.

* * *

Echizen watched as she rounded the corner and went to the hall. It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders and somehow, he couldn't move. He blew out the candle, made himself comfortable on the couch and drifted to sleep.

He awoke rather early that morning seeing that some of the windows didn't have blinds or curtains and let the sun's light in and lit up the whole room. He caught sight of a clock to see that it was _way_ too early for him to be up. He got comfortable on the couch again, pulled the blanket to keep warm and shut his eyes only for them to snap open again.

'_A blanket? Where did this come from?'_ He thought as he sat up. It couldn't have been from any of the regulars. Why would they be in the living room in the middle of the night anyways? It could possibly have been Ryoga but he would have more or less brought him back to the room or stayed down there with him. He thought that the only logical reason, as logical that it can get, would be that Aya came back and placed a blanket over him and thought nothing more of it.

He fell asleep for another hour or two then woke up again seeing that it was now an hour that he actually knew. No one else seemed to be up yet and despite his uncaring manner, he didn't want to wake them. Not just because he thought they needed sleep, he didn't want them to bug him. He went into the kitchen and made himself some hot chocolate, grabbed the bag of marshmallows and settled back on the couch to watch TV until everyone else was up.

"What are our plans then, Echizen-kun?" Echizen turned his head to see Aya sitting with him with a smile on her face. "What are the plans of attack?"

"Kirihara-sempai and Kaidou-sempai will believe what everyone says even if you don't want them to, Momo-sempai, Jackal-sempai, Fuji-sempai and Hiroshi-sempai seem skeptical but not too much, I think the only ones we really need to worry about will be Buchou, Inui-sempai, Renji-sempai, Yukimura-sempai and Sanada-sempai." He answered stuffing a marshmallow into his mouth.

"What about the others?"

"Kikumaru-sempai and Marui-sempai are _firm_ believers so they won't be a problem. As for the rest, I'm not sure. They could go either way. I think that they would believe with proof and if Buchou or Yukimura-sempai were convinced, that would help."

"So the main focus will be Tezuka-kun and Yukimura-kun." She was making mental notes and counting on her fingers. "What about Ryoga-kun?"

Echizen looked into his mug of hot chocolate. "Ryoga should be alright. When I told him about this, it didn't seem like he believed me. I feel like he's humoring me but his intensions are. I think that with proof he would believe like everyone else." He took a sip of his hot cocoa. "If you could do something in front of everyone that should convince them."

Aya nodded her head indicating that she heard what Echizen said but was lost in thought about what she would do to make everyone believe that what he was saying was true. He watched and smiled. She reminded him of someone who didn't quiet remember how to do their math homework. He took a slip of his hot chocolate when a question popped into his head.

"Ne, am I the only person that can see you?"

She stopped counting on her fingers and looked at him. "Sorry?"

"Can the others see you?"

"If I make it so. Right now, if someone walked in, they would see you talking to thin air and assume you crazy." Echizen gave her a 'don't even think about it' look. "I can make it so everyone can see me if you like."

Echizen smirked. "Some things are better left hidden."

Aya smiled and got off the couch. "I'm off to plan mischief. You'll know when I start." She started happily skipping out of the room.

Echizen smirked and changed the channel of the TV. "Oi, thanks for the blanket!" He shouted to her.

"That wasn't me Echizen-kun~!" she singingly said as she disappeared from sight.

Echizen sat for a second. If she didn't do it… Maybe someone upstairs did. Maybe they had gotten thirsty and come down for water and saw he was on the couch. As quickly as the thought was there, it vanished. Echizen shrugged it off and continued watching TV.

* * *

After an hour or so of TV watching, Echizen heard a shout and a thud from upstairs followed by a long, drawn out 'itai' and 'what was that for?'

'_That couldn't be her.'_ He thought with a bit of disappointment as he poked at the marshmallow floating in his hot chocolate. He heard a few doors open and some footsteps. He wasn't really that surprised to see Inui and Renji coming down the stairs with notebooks in their hands, after all, it was the only thing they did.

"Ah. Echizen." Inui caught sight of him.

"Ohayou Inui-sempai, Renji-sempai." He greeted as he changed the channel.

"What are you doing? All my data points to you being the one who wakes up last." Inui said flipping through his book.

"My data points out that he should be the last one to wake and in his room." Renji pointed out. "Not sitting down here with cocoa."

Echizen ignored them and plopped another marshmallow into his mouth. He saw the two head out of the room with their faces in their notebooks going towards the kitchen. "Sempai-tachi, feel free to have a bento Nanako packed." Inui and Renji didn't look up but nodded into their books and went to the kitchen. _'Seeing that they didn't know I was down here…'_ he glanced at the blanket and crossed Inui and Renji off his mental list.

A few more doors opening and closing, footsteps coming down the stairs and toilet flushing and everyone was down stairs. Well, everyone but Momo and Kirihara. Everyone went to do their own thing; some went to go eat while the rest stayed with Echizen in the living room. Kikumaru had proceeded to latch himself on Echizen and wrap the two of them in the blanket. Echizen didn't protest too much seeing that he was trapped with no way of escape but it was also kind of soothing. Being able to sit with someone like that calmed him down a little, given the situation they were all in but no one knew about.

From the corner of his eye, Echizen saw Aya standing in the doorway with a smirk on her face. Echizen knew exactly what she was thinking and returned the smirk with his own and slightly nodded. With the blink of an eye, she was gone. Echizen wasn't able to contain his smile when screams of terror were heard from upstairs.

Everyone immediately stood up and was about to run upstairs only to see Momo and Kirihara running down it, screaming something incoherent and hiding behind the couch. After Oishi managed to coax the two out from the couch, he was able to get a story out of them.

"Now you two, what happened?" Oishi sat them on the couch next to Echizen and Kikumaru.

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you sempai." Momo said with a sigh.

"Especially since it's coming from your mouth." Kaidou hissed.

"I don't even want to think about it." Kirihara said slowly starting to rock back and forth.

"Nya, it can't be that bad." Kikumaru said with a turn of his head.

Ryoga saw the smile creeping on his brother's face and raised an eyebrow. Echizen saw his brother's stare and motioned with his eyes to the stairs. Ryoga looked to see Aya standing on the stairs with a smile on her face. A small inaudible gasp escaped his mouth. She shook her head, as in saying 'not now' and was gone. When Ryoga looked back at his brother, he was in a headlock, provided by Momo, with Oishi desperately trying to pry him apart.

"You had something to do with this! I know it!" Momo tightened his grip.

"How could he Momo?! That doesn't seem physically possible!" Oishi tried to free him.

"Of course not. Echizen is 11.65inchs too short to do such things." Inui interjected.

"11.37inchs by my calculations." Renji added.

"I'm- no-t t-that sho-rt! O-Oi-shi-sem-pai!" Echizen tried to defend his so called honor but didn't do too well.

"It doesn't matter if it's possible or not! Why would he laugh if he didn't do it?!"

"Saa because it's funny if you think about it." Fuji said with a grin.

"Not all people are sadists like you Fuji-kun." Yukimura said with a grin equal in size.

"I know what you mean Momo but- how could- he have- done that?" Oishi kept struggling to free Echizen. "Taka-san, a little help please?"

Taka tried pulling Momo off Echizen but Momo seemed to be drawing strength from somewhere and wouldn't budge.

"I've got just the thing." Marui ran to his room and came back with a racquet.

"You brought a racquet with you to the mountains?" Jackal asked.

"Why not? We're a tennis team aren't we?" he asked giving it to Taka.

"But we have no need for it in the mountains when there is snow on the ground." Hiroshi said under his breath.

"MOERUZE! BURNING!"

"See? Now look what you've done?" Sanada said in a very calamitous tone as he rubbed his eyes.

Taka began swinging the racquet and pulled Echizen away from Momo and put _him_ into a headlock. While Echizen slowly regained his breath, Momo began losing his.

"T-Taka-san! To t-tight!" Momo stuttered out.

"Now you know how it feels." Echizen said.

A series of snickers was heard from the group. Tezuka sighed and rubbed his eyes as he took the racquet from Taka's hand.

Momo scowled at Echizen while rubbing his neck. "I k-know you had s-something to do with that! W-why else would you have g-gone to bed e-earlier that the rest of us?"

That hit a nerve. Echizen glared at Momo and stood up, escaping Kikumaru's grip. "You want to know why I went to bed before everyone?"

"Chibisuke, maybe now's not-" Ryoga tried to calm him down.

"No, now is a perfect time for this." He turned to Ryoga. "You said you'd believe me but there's still doubt in your voice!"

"Believe you about what Echizen?" Fuji asked.

Echizen sighed. "For the past week, I've been having these dreams and in them, I've been in this house."

"That's probably because you were excited to come here." Oishi said.

"I don't think that me dying in every single one of them counts as being excited."

Everyone stared, shocked at what was just said.

"What are you talking about Echizen?" Tezuka was more so demanding an explanation than asking about it.

Echizen sighed and fell back on the couch. He began telling everyone about the dreams he's been having: how the first was pretty much instant death, the next came with some warnings and so on until the last one before they got to the house. He told them about the one he had just the night before, how everything felt so vivid and realistic; the smells, the sights, the sounds, how everything felt, all of it so real. He told them about the light in the attic in the middle of the night and when he investigated, he met Aya and she explained everything that had happened and everything that is happening right now.

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy and he didn't judge them for it. He didn't even wasn't to believe it and it was _he_ that it was happening to.

"Do you really expect us to believe that?"

"But it's such an elaborate story!"

"All of that just so you wouldn't be blamed for what happened this morning?"

"Yeah Echizen. You could easily just tell the truth. You don't have to lie."

Echizen gave everyone a glare. "If it's a lie, how do you explain what happened to Momo-sempai and Kirihara-sempai?"

"You must have rigged it somehow." Kirihara said.

"There's no way that it could have just happened." Kaidou added given that he and Kirihara were both very nervous at the moment.

Echizen sighed again. "How do you explain that?" he pointed to the window. They all looked to where he pointed and saw _Good Morning_ written on it like when someone just breathed and it had condensation on it.

"How do we know you didn't put that there before we got up?" Ryoga asked.

Echizen looked at him accusingly. _'You saw her.'_ He thought. "Or that?" he pointed to a book on the floor. It that three words written on the front page, _Please Believe Him._

"You obviously rigged a pulley system to respond to your movements-"

"-And slowly pull the book from where it was hidden." Inui and Renji said.

Echizen sighed once more in frustration. "Then how do you explain that?" he didn't have to point to anything as everyone's eyes immediately focused on a log in front of them. It stated vibrating then slightly shaking. After a moment, it seemed to lift itself from the pile and place itself in the fire. They all stared in disbelief. They all saw a log move _itself_ from a pile to the fire but Echizen smirked. He could see that it was really Aya moving the log, trying to help Echizen convince everyone that what he was saying was true. "Please Inui-sempai, explain it to me."

"Ah, well, ummm…" Inui was at a loss for words.

"How about you, Renji-sempai?" Echizen raised an eyebrow.

"It's obviously a…" Renji was stuck too.

"Wires!" Kaidou said.

"Yeah! Most definitely wires!" Kirihara agreed

Another logged moved from the pile but seemed to hover by the fire as if waiting for something. Echizen got up and went towards it. There were a few grunts of some who protested but they went ignored. Echizen went right up to the wood and waved his hand on all sides of it.

"How can you explain this sempai?" Echizen said as he grabbed the log and threw it in the fire.

They all gave him a blank stare, not wanting to believe.

"Are you saying that all of this, everything you told us… it's true?" Taka asked.

"Why don't you ask her?" Echizen pointed to the hall where everyone saw a girl, a little younger than Ryoga, standing and smiling at them.

"Ohayou minna-san." She smiled and waved. "My name is Aya. Yoroshiku onegai shi masu."

* * *

**Finally done. I really don't like taking longer than four or five days to update for you guys. Sorry if I take longer.**

**Hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter! I had an idea about what to put as for what happened in Momo and Kirihara's room but then I figured it sounded way to corny and stupid so you can use your imagination for what happened to freak them out so much.**

**Yay! Next chapter done! School finally started and I'm totally stressed out about tomorrow. I get to see what level I'm on for polo. *fingers crossed* Hope for varsity! Everyone hope with me! I've had the same locker every year I've been at that school and since the first day I got it, it's had carpet in it but this year, **_**noooooo**_**, they decided, 'she doesn't get to have carpet her last year at school. Let's take it out and piss her off.' I hate that school so much now.**

**Also, I think that after this fic, I'm going to do some about Transformers if anyone cares. I'm sorta in that fandom now.**

**Started on a Friday and it is now 22:29pm Tuesday night. Not actually sure when I'll update but whatever.**

**Forgive stupidness! Hopefully school will make my brain work better!**

**Hope you liked!**

**TTFN! See ya laterz!**


	11. First Meeting

**Chapter… 11! Forgot there for a sec.**

**Hey guys! So, school started. Dropped my math class, now I have a free fifth and oh, I GOT VARSITY! Hell yeah! Anyway, there was an earthquake today. Me and my friends didn't know where to go since we had a free period XD but we found it… it was uber hot and I got a bit of a tan -_-**

**As a birthday present from me to you, I have typed this superfast and updated two chapters for you. Happy birthday to me :D**

**One more thing before I forget, you know it's effing hot out when even the swimmers and people who get in the pool aren't allowed to get in the pool.**

**I'm gonna say that there will be at least three or four chapters after this one sooooo, enjoy it while you can!**

**Blah blah, DON'T OWN, blah blah Prince of Tennis blah.**

**Chapter 11. Have fun!**

* * *

Another log moved from the pile but seemed to hover by the fire as if waiting for something. Echizen got up and went towards it. There were a few grunts of some who protested but they went ignored. Echizen went right up to the wood and waved his hand on all sides of it.

"How can you explain this sempai?" Echizen said as he grabbed the log and threw it in the fire.

They all gave him a blank stare, not wanting to believe.

"Are you saying that all of this, everything you told us… it's true?" Taka asked.

"Why don't you ask her?" Echizen pointed to the hall where everyone saw a girl, a little younger than Ryoga, standing and smiling at them.

"Ohayou minna-san." She smiled and waved. "My name is Aya. Yoroshiku onegai shi masu."

* * *

"Gah!" Momo and Kirihara both pointed to her. "She was in our room this morning!"

Everyone stared at them than at Aya.

"Why would she be in your room?" Taka asked.

"Nya, you two are too horrid for someone as pretty as her." Kikumaru jokingly said.

Momo and Kirihara sent him a glare. "You're so mean sempai."

"Why was she in your room in the first place?" Marui asked.

"And how'd she get in?" Jackal added.

"She _is_ standing right there." Echizen said. "You could easily ask and stop pretending she doesn't exist." That was one of Echizen's biggest pet peeves. He hated the fact of talking about someone right in front of their face or even behind their back.

The six players sweat dropped and turned to Aya. She merely giggled and smiled.

"Gomen for this morning. I didn't expect you two to be up so soon."

"What were you doing in their room in the first place?" Yukimura asked. "And how did you even get in this house?"

"Did no one listen to Echizen-kun's explanation?" She placed her hands on her hips.

"I told you they wouldn't believe me." Echizen said as he slung his arms behind his head.

"Why would we?" Sanada snapped. "Do you really expect us to believe that this house is haunted?"

"I expect you would believe me." She took a few steps towards them. "Seeing that I'm one of the one haunting this house."

They all gave her a blank stare. "Do you expect us to believe that?"

"I expect you to believe this." She walked to Fuji. "Please excuse me for this, Fuji-kun."

Fuji raised an eyebrow but kept smiling. Aya walked straight towards him and passed through. Everyone was a little shocked to see that but nonetheless, still didn't believe it.

"That could easily be passed off as a holographic projection." Renji said.

"Saa, maybe she can but you can't pass off the feeling that was left behind." Fuji said as he rubbed his arms to warm himself up. He opened his eyes slightly but still had a smile on his face. "Tingly."

Aya huffed and crossed her arms. "Boys are stubborn." She turned to Echizen. "Would you mind, Echizen-kun?"

Echizen looked at her and shrugged. He didn't know what she was going to do but if it would help them convince the others, he would gladly help.

Aya walked to him and smiled then turned to everyone else. "Bye boys." She went behind Echizen and hugged him. They were encased in a lite glow and then began slowly sinking into the floor.

"You can't use your hologram theory to explain this, sempai." Echizen said with a smirk as his head went through the floor and he and Aya vanished from sight.

Everyone stood, dumbfounded. What the hell just happened? How could it have happened? Their brother, friend and teammate just fazed through the floor. He was _no _hologram. They all looked to Inui and Renji for answers.

"I-Inui-sempai?" Momo was shaking.

Inui and Renji were speechless. As far as they could tell, what just happened in front of them was real. They had thought about a trap door or something but with the speed they descended and what happened to Fuji moments before, they had no real reason or evidence not to believe what Echizen and Aya told them.

"Ryoga-san." Tezuka's voice was stern. "Did you know about this?"

Ryoga looked at him and moaned. "A-Ah. He told me about this last week."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Yukimura asked.

"To be honest, I-I didn't believe him." Ryoga ran his hand through his hair. "I didn't tell you because he asked me not to but also because I thought he was making it all up and didn't believe him. How could I? He told me that this place was haunted, I just thought he was trying to scare me so we wouldn't go because he didn't want to." He sighed. "I'm a horrible brother."

Niou placed his hand on Ryoga's shoulder. "Having a little brother isn't always as fun as it's supposed to seem."

"Take it from people who know." Fuji added. "A lot of us are older brothers."

"And being a younger brother isn't easy either." Niou continued. "Trust me."

Ryoga looked at his feet. "I guess that means I owe him an apology."

"Where did they go?" Kikumaru asked.

"The only thing under this is the cellar." Ryoga said. "I have the keys in my room. While I get them, I think you should work on that."

Ryoga pointed to Kaidou and Kirihara on the couch. Their souls were slowly leaving their bodies.

"I guess they couldn't handle it anymore." Hiyoshi said.

"Ah! Kaidou! Kirihara!" Oishi ran to them and tried to snap them out of it.

* * *

"Sorry about that Echizen-kun." Aya said as she released her hold on him when they touched the cellar floor.

"If that didn't convince them, I don't know what will. Where are we?" Echizen rubbed his eyes, trying to adjust them to the darkness.

"We're in the cellar. Hold on a second." Aya moved from Echizen and found an old lamp and lit it. "Is that better?"

"Ah. Thanks." It took a second but as soon as his eyes adjusted, he saw that they were indeed in the cellar. "Why are we in here?"

"Well, I couldn't really faze you through the ceiling. Despite what people think or believe, ghosts can't levitate. I've tried." She jokingly said with a smile. "Actually Echizen-kun, I was hoping you could open something for me."

"Like what? A jar of pickles?" he said looking through some things.

"Hehe, not quite." She giggled. She went to the middle of the room, knelt down and started knocking on the floor boards. There was one spot that sounded hollow and when she heard it, she opened the boards and pulled out what looked like a jewelry box. "As you see, it's no normal pickle jar."

"What's that?" Echizen knelt beside her.

"This is what will help us be put to rest." She handed it to Echizen and he inspected it carefully. The box was amber with a small black lock. Echizen reached into his pocket and pulled out the key the old man had given him. "You'll know when to use it, ne?"

"If you knew about it, why didn't he give you the key to this box?" he asked as he sat cross-legged.

Aya held out her hand, motioning for Echizen to give it to her. He placed his hand over hers and dropped the key and it fell right through his her hands and down to the floor. He raised an eyebrow when she went to pick it up and couldn't.

"We are not meant to be our own demise. We can only hold on to what's precious to us." She stopped trying to pick up the key and took the box from his hands.

"What am I supposed to do?" Echizen picked up the key.

"You must take the contents of this box and get rid of them, one way or another."

"Why not just destroy the box?"

"This box has great sentimental value to Oji-san, the one that gave you the key to it. To get rid of it, he would be devastated."

Echizen took the box from her and set it on the ground. He carefully and slowly put the key into the lock but when he began to turn, he felt a shadow loom over him and a chill go through his body. He turned his head to see Kimi, Aya's elder sister, standing over him.

"Now, now, you shouldn't play with other people's things, Echizen Ryoma." She said with a sadistic smile.

Echizen froze, fear taking over. There she was, standing over him, in the flesh, so to speak.

"Echizen Ryoma, no, Dai-kun." She took a step closer to him. "I've been waiting a long time Dai-kun. I've missed you this whole time but now we can finally be together."

Echizen did nothing. He tried to make his body move but it wouldn't obey. His arms and legs felt tremendously heavy and physically impossible to move.

"Stop it Nee-san!" Aya stood between him and Kimi. "He is Echizen Ryoma, not Daisuke! He has nothing to do with us!"

Kimi smirked. "You cannot hide what my eyes have shown me. This young boy is, without a doubt, our younger brother. How can you not see that A-chan?"

"How can you?! We are not his family! He has his own family and friends! They are upstairs right now and they are worried about him! Leave him alone!"

Echizen got feeling back into his arms and legs and began scooting towards the stairs that lead out of the basement.

"Dai-kun?" She took another step towards him only to be stopped by Aya. Her arms were fully extended.

"No Nee-san. Leave him alone." She was stern.

"I will be with my brother again" Kimi glared at her sister and with a strange movement of her arms, she caused Aya to fade away. Echizen watched in fear and horror. The only thing that was holding her back was now gone and he was defenseless.

"Dai-kun." Kimi inched closer. Echizen scrambled to his feet and ran up the stairs only for the door to be locked. He started ponding and shouting for anyone to open it and when he turned back, Kimi was basically on top of him. "Don't worry Dai-kun. It will only hurt for a minute or two then we'll be reunited and be able to spend all eternity together." She pulled a knife from her back.

"N-No…" Echizen's voice was almost a whisper. This was it? This was how he was going to die? In the basement of some old, worn out haunted house? Talk about old fashioned horror movie irony. He flattened his back against the door and stiffened. Kimi reached for him and a lite stream of tears started falling from his eyes.

"It's alright Dai-kun. I'll never leave you again."

Inches away from Echizen, he closed his eyes, causing more tears to fall. Just as she was about to grab him, he was incased with a calm blue light that radiated from his neck. Kimi looked at frowned.

"Damn that girl." She moved away from Echizen and back down the stairs. "Gomen Dai-kun. I guess our reunion will have to wait a little while longer."

Echizen opened his eyes and saw Kimi pick up the music box. The key fell out of the hole.

"Soon Dai-kun. We will be together- very- soon…" Kimi faded into nothingness, taking the box with her.

Echizen relaxed against the door. He looked around his neck to see the blue glow radiating from the pendent Aya had given to him the week before. Somehow, that stopped her from being able to harm him. He slowly and cautiously walked down the stairs and into the main part of the cellar. He picked up the key, looked at it and shoved it into his pocket. He stood there for a moment when another wave of fear came over him. He started shaking and his body felt heavy. He fell to his knees then made his way to a corner and huddled himself into a ball and started sobbing.

There were some noises from the other side of the door but Echizen ignored them. The door burst open and Ryoga followed by everyone else rushed in. Ryoga saw his brother and rushed to him.

"Chibisuke!" He knelt beside him. "What's wrong?"

Ryoma didn't answer but stayed in his ball and kept sobbing.

Aya appeared in front of everyone and a sad, dismayed look. "Gomen… minna…"

"What the hell happened?" Momo asked with anger lining his voice.

Aya turned away, not wanting to face them. "We should get upstairs." She kept her head down as she went up the stairs. She didn't feel like she could look anyone in the eye. Some of the looks she received were full of anger, confusion, misunderstanding, pity and sadness. She couldn't help be feel responsible for what happened.

While most of the members from each team followed Aya up the stairs and into the living room, Ryoga, Fuji, Tezuka, Sanada and Yukimura stayed in the cellar with Ryoma, seeing as he refused to move.

"Chibisuke, let's go to the living room." Ryoga said trying to coax Ryoma out of his ball.

Ryoma held out his hand. The five boys that stayed with him looked to it to see a small key in his palm. "Take it."

Fuji bent down and took the key from his hand. "What's this go to?"

Ryoma stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I don't want it… any part of it." He brushed past the boys in front of him and went up the stairs making sure not to look any of them in the eye as he did.

Everyone watched, confused, as Echizen went up the stairs, wondering what had happened the few minutes they were apart.

"Saa, I think we need to find out what's really going on in this house." Fuji said giving the key an intense open eye stare.

"Ryoga-san, are you sure he didn't tell you anything else about this house besides what you already told us?" Yukimura asked.

Ryoga's eyes were focused on the stairs. "Ah but seeing that it's him, he's probably hiding something else from us."

"Whatever it is, we need to find out what it is." Tezuka said.

Sanada sighed. "Leave it to him to find a way to get into trouble. Whatever is happening, we need to stop it. there's no telling how long it could drag out."

"Let's go upstairs. Some things are bound to get explained." Fuji said shoving the key into his pocket.

Everyone nodded and went upstairs, hopefully finding answers to their questions when they arrived.

* * *

_**That was… brief…**_** Yeaaaaah, sorry about that. **_**And anti-climactic…**_** You know, I'm not gonna lie, I have no idea where I'm headed with this anymore but I still have ideas to do and will keep working until this is done!**

**Well, there it is. My birthday present from me to you. Hope you like it!**

**I know, I know. There were a lot of corny elements in this chapter and the previous but no story is complete without it.**

**In case anyone was wondering, Niou is a middle child with an older sister and younger brother.**

**Ummm, soooo… yeah. Don't know when the next chapter will be out! Savor these ones while you can!**

**Forgive mistakes!  
**

**See ya later!**


	12. Questions

**So, how'd you like two chapters? Don't get used to it. you only turn 17 once and I figured I owed it to you guys for being so awesome with everything :D**

**Whaddup brothas? Sorry, I watched **_**She's The Man**_** and now it's stuck in my head. Okay, this chapter was started September 2, 2012 at 17:49. Let's see when I finish and upload.**

**I wanna say sorry if the chapters after this seem kinda rushed and not too detailed. I really wanna start on some others but I don't like starting new ones without finishing ongoing ones. Gonna be a few one-shot **_**Transformers**_** and full stories. I think this might be the second to last chapter. I know. It's ending very abruptly and fast but I have very bad writer's block and want to start some other stories :P most of the ideas of the supernatural in this chapter are taken from various TV shows, movies and books that I've read.**

_**Big Sis of 8:**_** As for the answer to your question you asked so long ago, I live in California. Yeah, it's effing hot in the summer and with my room being right next to the heater, my room is the hottest and it sucks x.x**

**I would like to make this very clear, I DO NOT nor EVER WILL own Prince of Tennis. I do however now own an awesometastic **_**Caped Crusader™ **_**Batman mug my friends got me for my birthday.**

**Here's Chapter 12. Hope you like!**

* * *

Ryoga's eyes were focused on the stairs. "Ah but seeing that it's him, he's probably hiding something else from us."

"Whatever it is, we need to find out what it is." Tezuka said.

Sanada sighed. "Leave it to him to find a way to get into trouble. Whatever is happening, we need to stop it. there's no telling how long it could drag out."

"Let's go upstairs. Some things are bound to get explained." Fuji said shoving the key into his pocket.

Everyone nodded and went upstairs, hopefully finding answers to their questions when they arrived.

* * *

The living room was silent. Everyone had either found a seat or where standing. No one sat by Aya. They only gave her stares which made her feel even worse. Echizen came from the cellar stairs and took in the room. He noticed everyone glaring at her and glared at them in response. They saw and stopped. Echizen walked in and took a seat next to her. He didn't blame her for what just happened, he was just a little shaken up about it.

The six that were in the cellar with Echizen came in a few seconds after him and stood in the doorway. They noticed that the others had pretty much made a circle around them, no longer looking at the two but looking around the room trying _not_ to look at them. They knew that Echizen didn't blame Aya for anything and he wanted to make that very clear. They walked in the room and closed the circle, surrounding Echizen and Aya.

"Okay. Let's start from the beginning." Yukimura said breaking the silence.

"Echizen, when did all of this start happening?" Tezuka asked.

Echizen sighed. He'd already told them all of it and didn't feel like repeating himself but seeing that it was Tezuka who was more demanding an answer than asking for it, he figured he had no choice. He told them how it all started; the spacing out during practice, the visions, when he first met Aya outside of his house and what was in the envelope she gave him. When he moved to the dreams, he had to tell each one in extreme detail so nothing could be mistaken. He got a little quieter with each description. He didn't want to think about any of it more that he had to and talking about it again made him uncomfortable.

He told them everything up to the point when he and Aya were alone in the cellar. When asked about it, he lowered his head and brought his knees into his chest. He could still see the intent to kill on her face reflected in his eyes.

"What happened down there?" Sanada asked. Echizen stayed quiet. Aya figured it was her turn to explain.

"When we were down there, I took out a box that was being stored under the floor boards. It had things that were very precious to us in it." she looked at Echizen. "Echizen-kun had gotten the key to it from Oji-san when he arrived."

"So that's what this is for." Fuji said pulling the key from his pocket.

"Ah." Aya nodded.

"Where's the box?" Ryoga asked.

Aya was hesitant. "I-"

"_She_ took it." they turned their gazes to Echizen.

"Who took it?"

"Kimi. My older sister." Aya said. She heard the fear in Echizen's voice.

"Why would she take the box without the key?"

"We are not meant to be our own demise. We can't hold the key." She said. "It will pass right through us."

"Why are you able to hold the box then?"

"The box holds things from our past with great sentimental value. It's like a time capsule."

"Does it have things from everyone?"

"Yes. I had put a bracelet my mother had given me, Kimi had a necklace Dai gave her and Dai had a ring."

"If everyone put something in, why are only you and your sister trapped here?"

Aya sighed. "Dai-kun was content with how he died. Kimi and I however, our deaths were unnatural. Kimi slit her wrists while she stabbed me and we were caught in a planned explosion. I believe that the only way to make this stop and for us to finally be at rest is for the contents in that box to be destroyed and seeing that Kimi took the box with her, she must think it too."

Everyone was quiet for a few minutes, taking in what was told to them.

"So she thinks that Echizen is your brother and she wants him dead so that they can be together in the afterlife?" Hiroshi asked.

"All in a nut shell, yes. I am doing everything in my power to help him and keep him safe." She turned to Echizen. "Echizen-kun, may I see the pendent?"

Echizen gave her a confused look. She told him not to take it off the whole time he was there. Why would she tell him to take if off now?

She placed her hand on his back. "She can't do anything with everyone here. Nothing will happen."

Reluctantly, he slowly unhooked the necklace and placed it in her hand. He felt… different, like his safety was completely gone.

"This is my necklace that Dai-kun made for me. It is like the one that Dai-kun made for her. He put all his love and soul into this, saying that it is lucky and would protect us if anything happened to us. That is what happened tonight. Echizen-kun was encased in a lite blue glow. I believe that was Dai-kun's doing." She handed the pendent back to Echizen who quickly took it from her hand and wrapped it back around his neck; his feeling of safety and security returning as he did so.

"Wouldn't it be better if we got Ochibi out of here then?" Kikumaru asked.

"It would be safer for him, yes, but…"

"But what?" Kaidou asked.

"He would still have the dreams and would still be in danger. The dreams would be more vivid and cause some sort of reaction and repercussions. Once Kimi sets her mind on something, she will get it."

"So you're saying that-"

"I'll do it." Echizen's voice was stern.

"What are you talking about Echizen?" Momo asked.

"It seems that I have no choice in the matter. Either we leave and I have nightmares every night and are ultimately hunted down and all this will happen again or we stay and finish it." He walked over to Fuji and held out his hand, which Fuji placed the key in. "If I'm the one she wants, then I'll finish it so they can rest peacefully."

"I understand where you're coming from Echizen but wouldn't it be better to leave then come back when we know what to do?" Oishi asked.

"That, at this point, would be impossible." Inui said.

"Why is that?" Niou asked.

"The weather is too harsh and the roads should be closed by now." Renji answered.

Everyone sweat dropped except Tezuka and Sanada who rubbed their eyes and Fuji and Yukimura who had smiles on their faces the entire time. With everything that had been going on and things getting explained, no one noticed how much time had gone by. It was now the later afternoon and the sky was a mixture of all sorts of blues and grays with spots of yellows and gold peeking through the openings and the snow on the ground had gotten noticeably higher. A storm was coming.

"You didn't think that piece of information could have proved useful at some point, Inui?" Tezuka asked accusingly.

"In all fairness, it wasn't the time." Inui answered. Tezuka sighed.

"So, we're stuck?" Marui asked

With that said, almost everyone dead panned. They didn't care that they were stuck in an old house in the middle of a snow storm. They mostly cared that they were stuck in an old _haunted_ house in the middle of _nowhere_ in a snow storm with a _vindictive_ _ghost_ that wanted one of their friends, _supposedly her own brother,_ to join her in the afterlife.

After a moment of silence, everyone started yelling. How could they be alright with that? How could they believe it? Kikumaru was yelling about how he'll run out of toothpaste if they get stuck there while Oishi was trying to calm him down, Momo and Marui started teasing Kaidou and Kirihara, Inui and Renji were being hounded by Tezuka, Hiroshi and Sanada for not telling them about the weather, Taka and Jackal were trying to calm everyone down and Niou was explaining the supernatural to Fuji. Yukimura was sitting on the couch with Ryoma, Ryoga and Aya trying to understand everything a little better.

"Echizen-kun, are you alright? With everything that you've gone through, if you need to talk-"

"I'm fine Yukimura-sempai. I just need time to think of something." Echizen was tired. He really did just need to think about everything.

"Are you alright Chibisuke?"

"You look a little pale."

How could he not be? Being stuck in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with a killer on the loose, not to mention he was awaken in the middle of the night by nightmares of being killed and not having lunch. An exclamation mark popped off Echizen's head and his gaze focused on the hall.

"Chibisuke? What's the matter?" Echizen ignored his brother, got up and went into the hall. "Oi Chibisuke!"

Everyone stopped at Ryoga's sudden shout. They noticed Echizen was gone and followed him. They found him in the kitchen at the table with one of the bentos Nanako had made for them.

"What are you doing Echizen?" Momo asked.

"What does it look like? I'm eating." He replied shoving egg and rice into his mouth.

"I don't think that's what he meant." Niou said.

"What did he mean then?"

"Why are you eating breakfast food in the afternoon?" Kirihara asked.

"I don't think that's what he meant either." Oishi said with a sweat drop.

"Don't just wander around by yourself Echizen." Tezuka said.

"Yeah Ochibi. What if something happens?" Kikumaru said.

Echizen couldn't say his usual 'Why would something happen?' because he knew that something would very well happen to him if he was alone.

"We should be very careful since we now know that we're trapped here. When is the storm supposed to clear up?" Everyone glanced at the data masters.

"With the data we've collected plus the daily news report," Renji started.

"It should clear up within the week." Inui finished.

"When during the week?" Taka asked.

"We would need data that we do not have to figure out the exact day."

The group of boys sighed. They knew they were going to be picked up at the end of the week but who's to say that the storm will be over? Sure, Inui and Renji are the masters of data on each team but they are also human. They could be wrong and the storm could end up being even longer.

The silence that had entered the room was quickly chased away by the growling sounds of everyone's stomachs.

"I think that's our cue." Hiroshi said.

Hiroshi and Taka started making preparations for a late lunch and early dinner. They were shooing everyone out of the kitchen so they could cook but let Aya and Echizen stay so he could finish his bento.

"Would you like anything particular Echizen?" Hiroshi asked.

"Iya. Anything would be fine." Echizen answered.

"Ne Aya-chan." Taka said pulling out s knife and cutting board.

"Hm? What is it Kawamura-kun?" she answered.

"Just Taka-san. Forgive me if this is too personal but…"

"What is it Taka-san?"

"Ano, do ghosts eat?"

The kitchen was silent. Echizen tried to keep his laughter hidden but let his laughter out and had it fill the kitchen.

"What are you talking about Kawamura-sempai?" Echizen laughed out. Taka started to blush.

"Don't laugh Echizen-kun. It is a perfectly legitimate question." Aya said in his defense. "And in answer to your question Taka-san, no. We can't eat."

"What can you do exactly?" Hiroshi asked.

"Despite what people think, there are many things that ghosts can and can't do."

"Like what?"

"Let's do this: you ask me a question and I'll say if we can do it or not."

"Alright. Is it true that ghosts are able to- levitate objects?"

"In reality, we are not levitating them but merely picking them up."

"Why can people not see them then?"

"We can choose if we want people to see us or not. Right now, you three can see me right?" Taka, Echizen and Hiroshi nodded. "And you can see me picking this up?" Aya picked up a spatula; the three boys nodded. "Right now, I look like a normal person because I'm willing it but if I go like this," she proceeded to fade and disappear. "It looks like the spatula is suspended in the air but in actuality, I'm still holding it but you just can't see me." She set the spatula down and became visible again.

"We should bring Kaidou-sempai in here so he can listen." Echizen said half joking.

"Okay, what about walking through walls and things?"

"Yes. We have the ability to make ourselves solid and opaque." She walked to Echizen and, seeing that he was used to it, put her hand on his shoulder. "As you can see, I am as solid as the three of you." She took her hand from his shoulder and advanced to walk through him and the table. "But I think doing this is much more fun."

"The feeling isn't as fun for the person you go through." Echizen rubbed his arms for warmth.

"Gomen Echizen-kun."

Taka rubbed his head trying to think of another question. "Umm, I've heard that ghosts don't have reflections."

"That is true."

"Do you know why?"

"I'm not completely certain but I think it has to do with our body mass. Since we're ghosts, we pass right through everything normally and may be given the same terminology as air and you can't see air. I don't really know who to explain it any more than that."

"It's alright. I think I understand…" Taka went back to chopping.

"Do you have any more questions?" Aya sat next to Echizen.

"I read this article somewhere and it said that supernatural beings can make people hallucinate and have the ability to change what they look like."

"I've never heard of that before." Aya slumped her head in her hands. "_I_ can't create hallucinations but that doesn't mean it's not true. It's a definite possibility but I can guarantee that we cannot change our shape"

"What was that thing you did with Echizen in the living room earlier?" Hiroshi asked.

"Ah. That is what I like to call 'fazing'. It's sort of like walking through people and objects but takes a lot more concentration and I am able to take things with me."

"What about floating or levitation like in a lot of movies?"

"Unfortunately, no. That was one of the first things I tried when I became like this."

"Do you know why you can't?"

"Maybe it means that I'm still human." Her tone and head dropped. "I just wish it would feel like it."

"Aya-chan…"

"Don't say that." Echizen put aside his food. "Of course you're still human. It doesn't matter if you can faze through things, make yourself unseen by thought or float in the air. None of it matter, living or dead. You should be happy being you. You may not be perfect but you are how you were meant to be: you are human and nothing will be able to change that."

"Echizen-kun…" Aya wiped the tears forming in her eyes. "Ah."

"Naw! I never thought Echizen could say something that wasn't a comeback." Hiroshi teased.

Echizen scoffed. "At least I _have_ comebacks."

"See? Nothing but smartass comments." Aya and Taka let out a few snickers while Echizen smirked.

"Now, now. Is that any way to treat someone younger than you?" A voice came out of nowhere; Echizen froze. "Dai-kun, it's almost time." He turned his head to look at the opposite wall where Kimi was standing.

"Nee-san!" Aya placed herself between her and Echizen.

"Aya-chan, is that…" Taka started.

"That is my sister Kimi. She's the one who wants Echizen-kun."

Hiroshi and Taka stopped what they were doing. "You mean, she's the one who-"

Kimi took a step towards them. "Why is everyone so defensive? A-chan, do you not wish to be with your younger brother again?" Echizen moved from his chair and went farther behind Aya. Taka and Hiroshi moved up to they were in front of him with Aya.

"Of course I do! That's why you need to stop this and give back the box you took earlier so that we _can_ see him again!"

"What are you talking about? I can see him right now. He's right there." She pointed to Echizen. Echizen took a few steps back while Taka and Hiroshi closed the gap between then and thus blocking Echizen from Kimi's sight.

"I don't know who you think he is but this is Echizen Ryoma." Hiroshi said.

"He is a Regular of the Seigaku Tennis Team and has his own family." Taka stated. Echizen was slowly inching himself closer to the hall.

"I think you are mistaking him for someone else. That is our younger brother" her tone dropped. "And I don't appreciate you separating us."

"Nee-san, _you're_ the one mistaking him." Aya stood by Taka and Hiroshi. "He is not our brother."

Kimi took a few steps towards them and picked up a knife on the counter. Aya moved in front of Taka and Hiroshi.

"Aya-chan-"

"I'm not sure what she will do but stay behind me for your own protection." She whispered to the two regulars behind her.

"A-chan, who are they? The people behind you?" Kimi asked as she examined the knife in her hand. Aya frowned and stayed silent. "When did you become so rebellious?" she glared at her. "Who are they?"

Before Aya had time to do something, Taka and Hiroshi spoke.

"I am Kawamura Takashi; regular on the Seishun Gakuen tennis team."

"Yagyuu Hiroshi; regular on the Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku tennis team."

Kimi's glare turned back into a smile. "See? These boys are obviously mistaking Dai-kun as one of their own. He must look like someone who was on the team. Isn't that right, Dai-kun?"

Echizen froze. He was just about to turn the corner and go into the hall when he turned and saw Kimi looking at him. Taka, Hiroshi and Aya moved forward a bit as if ready to tackle if anything happened. Kimi moved towards Echizen ever so slightly.

"Dai-kun, don't you want to be with me again?" Echizen started to panic; his heart rate and breathing sped up and he began to sweat. He could here Kimi saying things to him but wasn't listening to them. Everything he heard was random mumbling and the slight tap of shoes moving towards him. He finally realized what was happening when Niou came walking down the hall from the living room.

"Echizen. What are you doing? Overlooking to see that everything is cooked correctly?" He joked.

"N-Niou-sempai…"

"ECHIZEN!" Echizen looked behind him to see Kimi right there with the knife over her head ready to bring it down. He watched her in horror. He tried to make his legs move but somehow, none of the commands from his head were making it down to the proper appendages. Kimi started bringing the knife down and Echizen coward in fear when he felt a great force strike him in the stomach. He went flying back just before the knife could reach him and landed on the floor with a thud and a weight on his chest.

"Hiroshi! Echizen!" Niou ran to them.

"H-Hiroshi-sempai?" Echizen looked up to see Hiroshi's glasses less face.

"You sure are troublesome, Echizen." Hiroshi gave him a smirk and got off of him.

"Are you two alright?" Niou asked.

"I never did like tennis." Kimi raised her hand and went from right to left and a gust of air knocked Hiroshi and Niou away from Echizen. "Dai-kun, can we stop playing?" She advanced towards him and raised the knife.

"Echizen-kun, run!" Echizen heard Aya shout to him. With his legs regaining their function, he got off the floor and ran down the hall towards the living room. He heard the soft taps of feet following him but didn't dare turn around to see who it was.

He ran to the end of the hall and entered the living room where everyone was ready to head into the kitchen because they heard shouting. He rested his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath when he was hounded with questions.

"What's wrong Ochibi?"

"Why are you so out of breath?

"Are you alright Chibisuke?"

"Minna!" the four that were left in the kitchen came running into the room.

"Echizen, are you alright?" Taka asked.

"A-Ah." He answered.

"What's going on?" Yukimura asked.

"Where is she?" Aya asked.

"Where's who?" Oishi asked.

"The other girl just now; she attacked Echizen and went after him as he ran down the hall." Hiroshi explained.

"What?!"

"Chibisuke, are you alright?! Did she hurt you?!" Ryoga went over and started inspecting Ryoma.

"I'm fine. She didn't-" he didn't have time to finish. He felt a pain in his arm and looked to see a long gash.

"Dai-kun please, stop moving. I don't wish to injure you." Echizen held his arm and jumped back. Kimi had appeared out of nowhere and slashed his arm. "Just one moment of pain and it will all be over then we can spend all eternity together."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Shouts came from everyone.

Kimi glared at them. "You all. You have corrupted my little brother into thinking he is one of you; part of your 'tennis team' as those two put it." She pointed to Taka and Hiroshi. "And you," glaring at Aya. "What are you doing? Going along with all of this like it is the truth. Do you even want to see our brother again?"

"All of this _is _true nee-san. I don't know what to do to make you realize that." Aya's voice rose but then sank down to a whisper.

"I'm tired of everyone interfering." With that said Kimi raised her arm and sent the regulars flying and crashing them into the wall while Aya disappeared. Echizen was left in the middle of the floor, still clutching his arm to try and stop the bleeding.

"Chibisuke!" Ryoga tried to move towards him but found that he was stuck to the wall by some invisible force. "Chibisuke!"

Echizen kept scooting back but soon reached a wall. His arm was drenched in blood. The gash was deeper than it looked; his vision was getting blurry.

"Are you ready Dai-kun?" Kimi knelt in front of him.

Echizen looked up and their eyes locked. "Go to hell."

Kimi didn't reach but reached out her hand to caress. Before contact was made, again, a blue light emanated from Echizen's shirt. He took his blood stained hand from his arm and pulled the pendent out for everyone to see. If was warm to the touch and had a calm sky blue radiating off of it.

"It's still there is it?" Kimi rose from her spot in front of Echizen. "Dai-kun, do you like the people you are with?"

Echizen stayed silent but his facile features said everything.

"You've grown attached." She looked at the knife in her hand and smirked. "I'll let you stay with them a bit longer but know this Dai-kun: we will be together in the end." She began to fade and then disappeared completely.

Echizen sat on the floor, still holding the pendent. He watched as the glow slowly drained away and was gone. He let out a sigh and leaned his head against the wall. The force that was holding everyone back was gone and they all ran to him.

"Echizen/Ochibi/Chibisuke!" he didn't protest when he had them rush over and start looking over for any other injuries. Everyone was talking and he couldn't make out what anyone was saying. Oishi ran off somewhere and came back with a first aid kit and started cleaning his arm.

"Tell me if I'm pressing too hard Echizen." He wiped the blood from his arm and started wrapping gauze around it. While he was, he heard Echizen snicker.

"Heh. I'd like to see Inui-sempai and Renji-sempai try to disprove this…" Echizen leaned his head on the wall and started to black out. The last thing he remembers is everyone shouting his name.

* * *

**Haha! Cliffhanger bitches! *gets shot in the head* **_**Hehe**__**. Who's the cliffhanger now?**__ You dumbass! How will she complete the story?!_** You deserve it.**

**Well, there's chapter 12. Sorry it took so long to be out. If you add school starting + polo + birthday + writer's block, you get a **_**very**_** messed up schedule.**

**I got a new computer :3 my sister sent it to me. Now I have a gaming one and writing one! Yay to that! I'm also in Japanese for school :D I'm the only blonde girl in that class which I think is hilarious.**

**I re-read this and was like, 'how big did I make this place?' I guess I'm very much over exaggerating how big of a place it is. Oh well. It works.**

**Soooo, yeea~h. I know that this seems rushed and everything but I really want to start on a new story and this one isn't really getting anywhere. Not sure when the last chapter will be out but I'll get started on it right now so it won't take forever.**

**Thanks for staying with me all this time! Forgive horrible grammar and mistakes!**

**See ya last chapter!**


	13. ENding It

**Here it is. The last chapter. I wonder when I'll finish and upload it…**

**Hey everyone. It is currently 0032 hours on 9|9|2012 and I'm effing tired and really don't want to go to school tomorrow because that entails me having to write an essay for first then after a long, boring day, I get to come home for a few hours then go to practice… which sucks. A lot.**

**It's effing hot out but there is a chance of thunderstorms so I won't complain about that too much.**

**Well, this is the last chapter. I have lots of ideas I would like to incorporate into this chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to do it. I wanna give a great big thanks to all my peoplez:**_** tennisgirl16, EmeraldRain25, guest(s), MintLeafeon, ILuvSilverShadow, Dragon of Despaire, isabelle, misteriosayuri,**_ _**NenePasciele, Yuki Masaharu, Namikaze Naruto Tenma no ouji, Matsukaze Tenma, FranscoiseLaraLapis, PurpleScorpion, aku no tensai, anime fan 202101202, 27-YUMI-72, Big Sis of 8, KawaiiLunaChan, Yamililly, jgood27 and Rychan6 for faving, reviewing and following me! You guys are what make me want to write!**_

**I DO NOT own Prince of Tennis… that was dull…**

**Last chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

Echizen sat on the floor, still holding the pendent. He watched as the glow slowly drained away and was gone. He let out a sigh and leaned his head against the wall. The force that was holding everyone back was gone and they all ran to him.

"Echizen/Ochibi/Chibisuke!" he didn't protest when he had them rush over and start looking over for any other injuries. Everyone was talking and he couldn't make out what anyone was saying. Oishi ran off somewhere and came back with a first aid kit and started cleaning his arm.

"Tell me if I'm pressing too hard Echizen." He wiped the blood from his arm and started wrapping gauze around it. While he was, he heard Echizen snicker.

"Heh. I'd like to see Inui-sempai and Renji-sempai try to disprove this…" Echizen leaned his head on the wall and started to black out. The last thing he remembers is everyone shouting his name.

* * *

Cold. That is the only thing Echizen felt. He sat up from where he was lying which turned out to be Ryoga's lap. They were both on the couch as were Momo, Kikumaru and Fuji whose arms were all propped on the side of the couch with their heads resting in their hands sleeping peacefully.

The only source of light in the room was the fire and it had died down to a calm red-glowing ember. He moved from his place in Ryoga's lap carefully so not to wake him. He didn't know what time it was but really didn't care. He moved towards the fire place and felt the heat still radiating from it. He rubbed his arms to get warm and flinched. Somehow, he forgot about the gash he had received earlier that night. He rubbed his are gently to null the pain and placed them back towards the fire.

'_I wonder what time it is.'_ He thought to himself. He searched his pockets to discover his phone was missing then tried to look at the clock that was in the room but it was too dark to make anything out past the couch.

He sighed. He wanted everything to be over. He wanted to go home and sleep in his own bed with Karupin; no more nightmares. He missed Nanako's fresh breakfast and her threatening his father. He even missed his father asking him if he had a date every time he went out. He wanted to be home, at school making fun of his teacher's poor English pronunciation. He wanted to be on the tennis courts playing matches against rival schools. Sure, Rikkaidai was there with them but it wasn't like they were competing for anything. He did like getting to know them a little better but it just wasn't the same.

He stretched his arms, careful not reopen the long incision in his arm. He rubbed the back of his head and eyes and yawned. He reached over to the basket holding the wood in it and dropped a piece of it into the fire. He immediately regretted it. The fire erupted sending sparks and embers flying into the room. Everything began to burn, the floor, ceiling, furniture.

Echizen tied to go back to the couch to wake his sempai-tachi and brother but the fire created a wall of flames. He looked through it to see his friends and brother vanish like they were never there to begin with. The fire raged. He jumped back to avoid the flames and was caught by a pair of tender hands. They moved from his shoulders and crossed his chest into a hug.

"Dai-kun, it's time."

Echizen felt himself being pulled back and something crashed into the back of his knees causing him to fall into a snug position with the person behind him. He knew what was going to happen and whose arms he was in. They both fell back. Before they completely fell, Echizen felt a hand grab onto his own and pull him from the grasp of the person behind him. The hand was warm and comforting, like he knew who it belonged to.

He was pulled from the constricting grasp of the first unknown person and was pulled into a comforting hug. He could feel the figure holding him. It didn't feel like a feminine frame but more like Ryoga. He was pulled closer and had something whispered into his ear. Echizen felt himself turn being turned and them he was pushed away into the dark nothingness.

* * *

Echizen opened his eyes and stared into a light when a head suddenly appeared over his. Startled, he tried to sit up but only ended up bashing heads with the person who was over him. Echizen slammed back into lying position and held his head while said person who he slammed into fell backwards in the chair they were sitting in and fell to the floor.

"ITAI!" they both loudly shouted in unison. Their shouts brought everyone else into the room.

"What the hell was that for?!" Marui shouted very angrily at Echizen with a big red mark on his forehead. "Why did you ram into me?"

"What are you doing hovering over me?!" Echizen retorted with his hands still over his head. "It's your fault it happened!"

"What happened?" Oishi asked as he rushed to Echizen's side.

"How is it my fault?! You're the one who woke up suddenly!"

"I can't control when I wake up! You're the one who was standing over me! It's your fault!"

"All of this is your fault! You're the reason we're like this!"

"Marui-san-"

"No. It's the truth! He's the reason we all have to be on our guard. I thought we came up here to relax but this is, this is your fault!" Marui pointed at Echizen then stormed off and went upstairs.

"Oi Marui!" Jackal and Hiroshi followed him upstairs.

'What was that all about?" Momo asked.

"Are you alright Ochibi?" Kikumaru asked.

"My head hurts." Echizen replied still lying down and rubbing his head.

"Not just that; how do you feel?" Oishi asked.

Echizen looked at him a bit confused. "I feel fine."

"You don't feel pain and you're not tired?" Ryoga asked.

"Why would I?"

"Echizen, do you know how long you were sleeping?" Tezuka asked.

He looked even more confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Chibisuke, you were asleep for a day and a half after you collapsed from that." Ryoga pointed to the bandages on his arm.

"What day is it?" he asked as he examined his arm.

"It's Thursday morning. Are you alright Echizen?" Niou asked.

"Do you need anything?" Kaidou asked.

Echizen sighed. He had forgotten everything that had happened. He looked at the fire and got a chill. It was the same small glowing embers that were in his dream. He looked around and saw everyone watching him but Aya wasn't there.

"Where's Aya-san?" he asked.

Everyone looked at him with question marks popping off their heads. "Why?"

"Where is she?" he asked in a more demanding voice.

"She hasn't shown up, not since you passed out." Taka answered.

"What's wrong Echizen?" Yukimura asked.

"Nothing… it's nothing." Echizen looked puzzled. She would just leave him with everything that's happening. He moved from where he was lying so that his feet were touching the ground. He stretched his arms and legs and scratched his head. He got up from where he was sitting, which he discovered was the couch, and went towards the front door.

"Where are you going Ochibi?" Kikumaru asked.

"Echizen, you shouldn't move until your arm is healed!" Oishi was in full mother hen mode.

"I'm fine Oishi-sempai. If it starts hurting I'll take something for it. I'm going outside. This whole week has been nothing but a complete disaster just like Marui-sempai said. I want to have some fun and relaxation since that's what we came here for. I want to act like the child I am."

"What if something happens while you're outside?" Niou asked.

"Plus you'll probably get lost with all the snow that's out there. Did you forget about the storm?" Ryoga asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Did anything happen while I was asleep?" Echizen asked accusingly. "And how can I get lost?" he pulled back a curtain and peered outside. "There's not that much out there and I can see over it." He proceeded to pull on his jacket, boots, beanie and gloves.

"Does this mean we can call him a child since he called himself one?" Sanada asked as Echizen went out the door.

"Since when is being sixteen count as a child?" Kirihara said.

"He's just stressed out. He right. We should all try to relax." Renji said.

"I want to play with Ochibi!" Kikumaru went after Echizen.

"Matte sempai!" Momo followed after.

"Hold on you two! You need to put on warmer clothes before you go out!" Oishi yelled just as they were about to run out the door.

Momo and Kikumaru stopped in their tracks, looked at each other then went upstairs to get their snow clothes. Everyone watched them and shrugged. Why not go outside and be the immature children they really are inside? Everyone followed Kikumaru and Momo upstairs and got dressed in their snow clothes and went down stairs and out the door. They even convinced Hiroshi, Marui and Jackal to come and play.

* * *

"What did I say? He's lost." Ryoga said as he and all the others walked out the door and into the fresh snow covered front yard.

"This is horrible! What if it starts snowing and he gets trapped somewhere or maybe someone kidnapped him!" Oishi panicked.

"Calm down sempai." Kaidou said.

"It would be impossible for that to happen." Renji said.

"Ah. He's not that stupid." Momo said.

Suddenly, a snowball came out of nowhere and smacked Momo in the face.

"Gah!" he fell backwards and landed in the snow.

"Very funny Chibisuke. Where are you hiding?" Ryoga asked.

"It's not hiding. It's called camouflage." He threw a snowball and it whizzed past Ryoga's head.

"Echizen, according to Cambridge Dictionary, those are the same thing." Inui said consulting his notebook. **(not really)**

"Have a little fun Inui-sempai." He threw another snowball and it knocked Inui's notebook out of his hand.

"Percentage Echizen planned that, 97.3%." Renji read.

"You too Renji-sempai." Renji's notebook fell to the ground.

"Where are you Ochibi?" Kikumaru whined. "I wanna play too!"

"All of this is childish." Marui complained.

"Says the one who was outside having a snowball fight days earlier." Niou said.

"What's wrong Marui-sempai? Afraid you won't be able to beat a child in a little game of hide and seek?" a snowball hit him in the face.

Marui whipped the snow from his person. "It seems a little unfair don't you think? You have the advantage."

"What advantage? Technically, I'm at your mercy. 11-1 doesn't seem like fair odds."

"Mou, I said I want to be on your team Ochibi!"

"Yeah Echizen! Me too! We'll even bring Mamoshi."

"Fsshhh, don't decide things for me."

"Saa, I think I'll also side with Echizen. What about you, Tezuka?"

"I want no part in this."

"Come on Tezuka. Where's your sense of fun?" Yukimura wadded up some snow into a ball and threw it at Tezuka.

"Some people might not like playing in the snow though…" Taka said twiddling his thumbs.

"Kore Taka-san." Ryoga pulled a racquet from nowhere.

"MOERUZA, BURNING!"

"Was that really necessary?" Sanada unhappily grunted.

"HORA HORA HORA! COME OUT ECHIZEN! FIGHT LIKE A MAN!" Taka started swinging the racquet and started flinging snow everywhere, revealing Echizen's hiding place.

Echizen flinched when he saw a burning Taka above him with a racquet and snowball in hand. He inched back as Taka took a step closer.

"Oi, isn't this a bit- overboard?!" Echizen said as he dodged a snowball.

"You're the one who started it." Hiroshi said.

"That's what you're supposed to do!" he shouted dodging another snowball.

"You're supposed to make a fort and hide. Not-" he was cut off when one of Taka's snowballs hit him in the face and knocked him to the ground.

"Not so fun now is it?" Echizen said hiding behind Ryoga.

"Oi, what're you doing?! Don't bring him over here!" Ryoga shouted as he and those around him were pummeled with snowballs.

Echizen snickered. "Heh. Mada mada dane." He went running from the group and took shelter behind a nearby tree.

"You little bastard! You planned this!" Sanada shouted as everyone scattered and ran for cover.

"Saa, isn't this a good way to get things started?" Fuji said ducking behind a bush then throwing a snowball at Taka who in turn hit it with the racquet and made it splatter everywhere.

"Only you would enjoy this Fuji!" Kikumaru yelled.

"Can't we stop him?" Niou asked.

"Sure Niou-sempai. Have at it." Kirihara said.

"When I said 'we', I meant someone other than me."

"I have an idea. Oi Mamoshi!" Momo looked to Kaidou from across the lawn.

"I don't want to be included in your stupid ideas." Kaidou replied then started walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Niou asked.

"Inside. I need something to drink."

Momo frowned. He was looking around to see who was the closest to him. It turned out that he was right next to Yukimura.

"Sempai." Momo crouched next to him.

"Do you need some help with your plan?" Yukimura asked with a smile.

"Ah!" Momo whispered his plan into Yukimura's ear and, in doing so, received a glare from Sanada.

"That sounds like a plan. Shall we start?" Yukimura said as he readied a snowball.

"Maybe I should make out my will first…" Momo was starting to doubt his plan.

"Don't worry. You won't get too injured."

"You don't know Taka-san like I do." Momo sighed and went from his hiding spot. Yukimura started scooting from where he was sitting and made his way around the yard and faced Taka.

"Momo what are you doing?! Its suicide!" Oishi screamed as he inched towards Taka.

Momo gulped. He wadded up some snow and threw it at Taka which hit him right in the center of the back of his head. Taka stopped what he was going and slowly turned to look at Momo.

Yukimura emerged from his hiding spot with his snowball in hand and just as Taka was about to bombard Momo, he throw the snowball making Taka's attention go to him and when that happened, Momo quickly took the racquet from his hands.

"What's everyone looking at? Aren't we having a snowball fight?" Taka asked as he tossed the snowball at Momo.

Everyone emerged from their hiding spots with snowballs in hand. Even Tezuka and Sanada were ready.

"You need to learn how to control your team Tezuka." Sanada commented.

"Mou, you're too much Taka-san!" Kikumaru complained as he threw a snowball.

As soon as the snowball left Kikumaru's hand and impacted itself with Taka, everyone else started firing snowballs at him.

"Waa! What gives?!" Taka yelled trying to shield himself from the never ending bombardment of snowballs.

"We're getting you back!" Marui said.

"But I didn't do it! Ryoga-san was the one who gave it to me!"

They all stopped for a second. Ryoga _was_ the one who gave Taka the racquet and _he_ was really the one to blame. They turned from Taka to face Ryoga who thought it was a good idea to look for a place to hide.

"O-Oi! Let's not overreact guys. A-After all, it was Chibisuke's idea to come out and play in the snow." He backed up so he was trapped between an angry group of high school students and a tree.

"Don't blame me. I never told you to follow." They all looked up to see Echizen sitting on the tree branch. "Don't drag me into your problems."

"Ah! Echizen get down! You could fall!" Oishi panicked.

"I'm fine Oishi-sempai." He shook the branch he was on causing the snow to fall from it and onto Ryoga. "See? Completely stable."

"You little bastard!" Ryoga tried to reach Ryoma and pull him down but missed as Ryoma stood up.

"Just try it."

Ryoga formed several snowballs and took aim at his brother. "I'm going to make you fall flat and it will be your own fault."

"I think you should worry about yourself and less about me."

"Why?" Echizen pointed behind him to reveal two angry tennis teams. "C-Chotto minna! Can't we-" Ryoga was pounded before he could finish speaking.

Echizen smirked and kicked the last of the snow from the branch. He watched as Ryoga practically became a human snowman. No one seemed to notice as he went from one branch to another and climbed into his open bedroom window and was out of one danger zone and into another.

* * *

Echizen climbed into his room and changed into more comfortable clothes. While he was changing, he noticed the house didn't feel like it did before. It no longer felt hostile or dangerous. He didn't feel like he was being watched by someone who wasn't there, even Aya. He couldn't tell if she was still there or not and it made him sad.

He changed and went downstairs to see Kaidou drinking a cup of hot chocolate in the living room.

"Ah. Kaidou-sempai."

"Echizen. Weren't you outside? I didn't hear a door."

"I came in through the window in my room." Kaidou sweat dropped. "What are you doing?"

"Sitting in peace for once since we got here." It was true. Ever since they arrived there, Kaidou has been annoyed by Momo and Marui and hasn't been able to sleep because Niou has been telling him things about the supernatural every night. He immediately regretted the words that came out of his mouth. He turned to Echizen to see his face. It reflected regret and guilt. "A-Ah, Echizen, that's not what I meant…"

"It's fine sempai. We came here to relax but it has been everything relaxation isn't." he sat next to Kaidou. "The past few days have been nice though. I was passed out and Ryoga told me that nothing happened to you guys while I was and nothing has happened since."

"Isn't that a little weird?"

"I wouldn't worry about it."

"You never worry about anything and it usually ends up getting you into trouble." Echizen scoffed. "Don't you think that not worrying and not telling us about it will only make things worse?"

Echizen looked down at his hands. "I just… sempai, how would you feel if people were in danger because of you? I don't want people getting hurt to be on my shoulders. I'd rather face everything alone than hurt the people I care about."

"Echizen, have you ever thought that not telling anyone your problems could hurt them even more than telling them? If no one but you knew what was going on in this house and something sever happened to you, don't you think that we would all blame ourselves for not keeping a closer watch on you?" Kaidou crossed his arms behind his head. "You don't have to face everything alone. That's why you have friends."

A small smile ran across Echizen's face. "I didn't know you could be that sentimental, Kaidou-sempai."

Kaidou blushed. "U-Urasai."

"You should take your own advice. Why not talk to everyone about your ghost fear?" Echizen wanted to have a little fun.

"Who said I'm afraid of ghosts?"

"It's pretty obvious sempai. With how you act whenever we bring up spirits or hauntings. There's no way that after this week you can say that you're not scared of them because they're not real."

"It's not a fear. It's a phobia-"

"And why don't you admit that you really love animals? I've seen you playing with Karupin whenever you pass by my house."

"I'm not playing. I'm trying to shoo-"

"I wonder how Momo-sempai would react if I told him that you are really a big softy on the inside." Echizen was about to get up and head for the door but Kaidou grabbed him and placed him in a really uncomfortable looking head lock.

"If you tell anyone, especially that idiot peach-" Kaidou's threat was interrupted by a sound.

"Hear that?" Echizen asked.

"It sounded like a… meow."

Kaidou released Echizen and they both listened. They heard another slightly louder muffled meow coming from a different part of the house.

"The old man never said anything about any animals here." Echizen said.

"Maybe it wondered in from outside." Kaidou retorted. "Where do you think it is?"

"Beats me. Let's split up and look for it."

"S-Split up? You mean, alone?"

Echizen raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Come on sempai. You're not scared are you?"

"O-Of course not!"

"Then you can search this level and the basement. I'll go upstairs and the attic."

Before Kaidou had a chance to protest, Echizen left the living room and went upstairs. Kaidou sighed. He didn't want anything to do with anything remotely related to being haunted, let alone go down into a haunted basement.

"Sempai, you might need this." Echizen was at the top of the stairs and tossed Kaidou the key to the basement. "If you need someone to go with you I'm sure Fuji-sempai would be more than willing."

Kaidou scoffed and opened the basement door despite the fact that he did want someone to go with him but his pride wouldn't allow it. Echizen let a smile cross his face as he watched Kaidou go into the basement. He was glad that he wasn't the one who had to go down there. With what had already happened, he hoped Kaidou understood that and he wasn't just trying to torture him.

* * *

Echizen started his search in the attic. He looked for any signs that a cat might be in there; fur, claw marks, prints but found nothing. He also figured that the attic is too far from the living room to hear anything unless it is really loud and he and Kaidou were hearing muffled meows. He moved from the attic and went to the hall. He decided to check all the rooms that were shut.

He found several weird things while searching everyone's rooms. In Momo and Kirihara's room, there were several sutras and talismans that Kirihara had made himself for his own safety, Renji Inui's room was filled with notebooks and pieces of paper lined the walls, Niou side had all sorts of books about the supernatural while Kaidou's seemed to be filled with Kirihara's charms and Kikumaru and Marui's had all sorts of toys and things that little kids would play with. He didn't find any trace of an animal, let alone a cat.

He checked everyone's rooms and even the bathroom and didn't find remotely related to a cat. He was going to head back downstairs when he heard scratching on a door. He looked down the hall to the only room he hadn't looked in. it seemed to be coming from the room that the old man told them was off limits. He walked towards the room and pressed his ear to the door. He heard scratching on the inside followed by a low meow.

'_How did it get in there?'_ he thought. "Kaidou-sempai, I think I found it." He shouted down stairs.

Kaidou came up the stairs and met Echizen outside the door. "In there? How can that be?"

"I'm not sure but I can hear it inside." Echizen pressed his ear to the door. "You can hear scratching coming from inside."

Kaidou also placed his ear to the door. "How could a cat get in there? The door hasn't been open since probably before we got here and the windows are shut."

"Who knows but there is something in there." They took their ears from the door and tried to open it.

"It's locked? Do you have a key?" Kaidou asked.

"It could be on that key ring Ryoga had. I think it's in the dresser in our room." Kaidou pressed his ear back to the door while Echizen went to his room to look for the keys. He entered the room and opened the dresser to find not several but one key. He thought nothing of it and took it back to the hall. "Try this one."

"Why do you only have one?" Kaidou asked as he took the key. "I thought you said there was a key ring."

"Ryoga must have it. This was the only one left in the drawer."

Kaidou shrugged. He looked at the key, mumbled something then placed it in the lock and opened the door. The room was nothing like the others. All the rooms they were staying were renovated and cleaned weekly at least. This room had cobwebs and spider webs everywhere, there was a thick layer of dust on everything, the wood from the bed frame had rotted, the carpet was stained and the drapes torn. There were black marks everywhere that Echizen could clearly tell were scorch marks.

"No wonder this room was off limits." Kaidou said. "Why is it like this?"

Echizen didn't answer. He went to the window and opened up what was left of the curtains. The inside of the room seemed so dreary compared to the rest of the world. Kaidou was looking through everything finding old books, bits of torn and burnt fabric and ash piles everywhere.

"Hey, look at this." Kaidou was shuffling things on the floor and cleared some of the dust and rubble. The spot was cleared to reveal a strange pattern in yellow paint. "What do you think it is?"

For some reason, Echizen got down and pressed his ear to the floor. He could hear the scratching sound coming from underneath it.

"Kaidou-sempai, I think the cat is under the floor boards." He said nonchalantly. He knocked and not to his surprise, the floor boards underneath emanated a hollow sound.

"What do you mean the cat is under the floor?" Kaidou asked kind of shocked.

Echizen paid him no attention and carefully lifted the floor bards beneath him to reveal a small hole with, not a cat but a box in its place.

"That's no cat." Kaidou said sticking his head under the floor to see if there was a cat there.

"Kaidou-sempai… this is…" Echizen brushed the dust from the box.

Kaidou brought his head back from the hole. "This is what?"

"This is… the box that was taken from me in the cellar at the beginning of the week."

* * *

"Who gave Taka-san the racquet again?!" Momo shouted as he hid himself along with Oishi and Renji from the bombardment of snowballs.

"Waa, Fuji!" Kikumaru shouted automatically assuming.

"Saa, why blame the innocent?" Fuji said as he threw a snowball.

"All my information points to someone different." Inui said.

"And who might that be?" Niou asked.

Inui was silent for a second. "More information is needed to find the exact source."

Several laughs were heard from the yard, Marui's being the loudest.

"Haha! Oi Jackal, I bet you can take him on!" he shouted across the yard.

"You would be sadly mistaken." Jackal said under his breath.

Kirihara snickered. "I think that Sanada-sempai would be able to take him."

Sanada scoffed. "I'm not that stupid."

"Yaa, no one's any fun." Ryoga said as he ventured away from the snowball fight and onto the porch where Tezuka and Yukimura were sitting. "What about you two? Think you could take him?"

"This is an easy way to tire him out." Tezuka said with his usual stoic look.

"Why don't we have Ryoma-kun try and stop him?" Yukimura said with a smile.

"Haa! That's a good idea! He practically started this whole mess. Oi Chibisuke!" Ryoga shouted into the crowd of boys. Echizen didn't appear. "Maybe he's hiding again. Minna, do you see that no good, tiny brother of mine?" he asked trying to make Echizen angry so he would come out. "Where did he go?"

"Eh? Echizen's gone?" Taka came out of burning mode and dropped the racquet. "But he was right there a second ago."

"Taka-san, that was about ten minutes ago." Niou said.

"Where is Echizen anyways?" Inui asked. "It doesn't seem like he's out here anymore."

"Maybe he was trying to sneak up on someone and somehow got trapped in the snow and now he's buried!" Oishi panicked. "Or maybe he got hypothermia and passed out somewhere!"

"Waa! Ochibi can't be buried!" Kikumaru started digging in the snow.

"Sempai, you really are too rash about things." Momo said. "Come to think of it, that baka Mamoshi's not here either."

And just like that, like Momo's words were a trigger to something, the windows on the side of the house started rumbling.

"What is that?" Jackal asked.

"Is it an earthquake?!" Marui shouted.

"Do you feel the ground shaking?" Renji asked in an 'are you really asking that?' voice.

Ryoga looked at the house. Something wasn't right, he could feel it. Ryoma was gone and he knew it had something to do with that house. He started to panic. He wanted to shout but he couldn't find his voice. He started thinking of all the things that have happened the last week and the things that could be happening at this very moment. He was pulled back to reality when Fuji placed his hand on Ryoga's shoulder.

"Ryoga-san, are you alright?" he asked.

"Something isn't right Fuji-kun. Something is going on in there." Just as he was going to take a step on the porch to enter the dining room, the window on the far side of the house flew open and Kaidou fell out of it and landed in a heap of snow.

"Kaidou!" shouts were heard from everywhere as the group of boys made their way to him.

"Are you alright?!"

"What happened?"

"Why did you fall out the window?!"

Questions were coming from every direction of the yard. Kaidou didn't pay any attention seeing that he couldn't understand any of them. He sat on the ground brushing the snow from his shoulders trying to make sense of what he had just experienced. He was slightly shaking and it wasn't due to the cold. He snapped out of his thoughts and was helped up be the many people surrounding him.

"Kaidou-kun, are you alright?" Ryoga asked in a rushed, panicked tone. "What happened?"

"I-I don't- Echizen and I were in the house and-"

"When did Echizen get in the house?"

"He said he climbed through his window." Everyone looked and saw his window _was_ opened. "E-Everything happened s-so fast after that."

"Kaidou-kun, what happened?" Ryoga managed to calm himself and Kaidou down a bit.

"We-we thought we heard a cat and went looking for it. I searched the lower half of the house while he searched the upper. He heard scratching noises from the room at the end of the hall that the old guy said was off limits."

"You went into it? It was looked. I don't even think I have a key for it." Ryoga pulled out the key ring.

"He found a key in the dresser in your room and used it to open the door." Tezuka frowned. "We didn't find an animal of any kind but we found a box under the floor boards and then…"

"Then what?" Ryoga was starting to panic again.

"Everything started shaking and the room started to change. There was a voice that said something about 'family business' and I was flung out of the room."

Ryoga's eyes got wide at 'family business'. He looked at the house with horror.

'_What the hell is going on?'_ "Chibisuke…" he separated himself from the rest of the group and ran inside the house and straight upstairs. After helping Kaidou everyone followed.

* * *

The group rushed up the stairs to see Ryoga outside the room, banging and kicking trying to get it open. Just before they reached him, he managed to kick the door open. He rushed in and let out a scream. The group of boys quickened their pace and ran into the room and also let out screams. They were falling; falling into nothingness. How did this happen? How _could_ this be happening? One minute they were running through a hall and the next they run into a room and fall into a black abyss.

Ryoga managed to stop himself from screaming. He tried to stop himself from panicking but to no avail. He looked at his surroundings as he fell: everywhere was black and he could barely see the shapes of his friends falling with him but he knew they were there from the amount of screaming that was going on. He cleared his thoughts to the best of his abilities. The only think he could think about was the fact that he had been falling for a good minute or two and Ryoma. What had happened with him and Kaidou and where was he now?

There was a sudden jerk which made everyone give a heaving sound then the dropped on what seemed to be a floor.

"Is everyone alright?" Yukimura asked as he got himself up from the floor. Several content answers were given.

"Nya! It's so dark here! I can't see anything!" Kikumaru said feeling around for something to hold onto.

"Does anyone have a light?" Sanada asked.

"I think I might- Ah! Sempai, don't do that!" Momo said.

"Momo is that you?! Turn on a light!"

Momo reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a mini 'power it yourself' flashlight and began to shake it. After a few minutes of shaking it, he turned it on and it brightened, wherever they were, up considerably. He shinned it around to see Kikumaru latched in his side, Oishi, Jackal and Marui standing with each other, Kaidou and Kirihara's souls were slowly leaving their bodies, Tezuka, Inui, Renji, Sanada and Yukimura were looking over everyone, Taka was helping Fuji from the ground, Niou was helping Hiroshi find his glasses and Ryoga was looking into the darkness trying to find any source of life that could be his brother.

"What just happened?" Hiroshi asked putting his glasses back on. Momo shinned the light to Renji and Inui hoping for answers. They looked at their notes then each other.

"Our data is incompatible with what we have just experienced. Further data is needed to find the exact answer." They both said.

"What do we do now?" Niou asked.

"What's this?" Marui said as he was patting his jacket. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cylindrical tube.

"It looks like a glow stick." Jackal said.

"I didn't put it there." He said handing it to Jackal. He cracked and shook it and it radiated with a powerful green light. Jackal gave it back to Marui and placed his hands at his side and felt something in his pocket.

"I've got one too." He said pulling the glow stick out and cracking it to reveal a yellow light. Everyone checked their pockets to discover that they all had glow sticks.

"Where did these come from?" Kikumaru asked no one in particular as he and everyone cracked their glow sticks to reveal several different shades from the rainbow, immensely lighting their surroundings.

"Where are we?" Taka asked trying to brighten his surroundings.

"And how far does the darkness go?" Kirihara asked.

"Let's find out." Fuji readies his glow stick and threw it as far as he could into the abyss. It flew through the air, landed on the ground and slid for a few feet. "It seems we have spacious surroundings."

Ryoga looked very closely at where Fuji's glow stick landed. His eyes widened when he noticed a dim blue glow trying to stay conspicuous amount Fuji's red. Without warning he ran towards the glow just as it was beginning to fade. Everyone knew what Ryoga was running to… they just hoped it wasn't as they thought.

"Chibisuke!"

Echizen was unconscious had chains around this wrists connected to the darkness suspended a few inches from the ground. The glow Ryoga saw was from the pendent Aya had given to him. The glow was dying down and pretty soon it was gone.

"Chibisuke! Oi! Come on Chibisuke! Wake up!" Ryoga was shaking him while the others were trying to undo the chains around his wrists. While shaking him awake, three things fell from his jacket.

"Nani kore?" Marui asked as he picked them up. "Why does he have these?" he held out his hands to show everyone a ring, necklace and bracelet.

"I think the question is where did he get them?" Niou said taking the bracelet.

"There beautiful." Taka said looking at them.

"And dangerous." Everyone turned to see Aya walking up to them.

"Where have you been?" Momo asked accusingly.

"Gomen. There were some things I was trying to straighten out." She said looking at the jewelry. "Those need to be disposed of as soon as possible."

"Why?" Jackal asked. "What's so special about them?"

"You shouldn't touch things that don't belong to you." Kimi walked out of the darkness.

"Nee-san!"

"Aya, it's time we stopped this silly charade. Let's go home" she looked at Echizen. "As a family."

Ryoga was kneeling on the floor with Ryoma in his arms. He held him closer as Kimi's gaze stayed on them.

"I'm the only family you have here Nee-san! Echizen-kun and his friends have nothing to do with us!" everyone formed a circle around Ryoga and Ryoma.

"Please, not this again. No needs to get hurt." A knife appeared in her hand.

"But he has to die?" Sanada said with a snarl.

"What I do with my brother is my business, no one else ha-"

"HE'S NOT YOUR BROTHER!" Ryoga shouted. He gently set Ryoma down and broke through the circle his friends had formed so he was facing Kimi. "He's _my_ brother… and you're not going to lay a finger on him."

"You're not one to stop me." Kimi raised her arm so it was fully extended in front of her and it shinned a deep purple before shadow like beams stretched from it and went straight for everyone. Aya took Ryoga's place in front of everyone and held out her arms. They glowed emerald and deflected Kimi's attack.

"You have interfered for the last time, A-chan." Kimi's whole body started to grow and it made her attack more powerful. Several more beams came out and crashed into Aya. Aya tried to keep the defense up but Kimi's attack was too powerful. She was sent flying back and the wave of energy sent everyone else flying too and they all landed with a thud. The jewelry Marui and Niou were holding flew from their hands and landed next to Echizen.

"Now with the distractions out of the way." Kimi went over to Echizen, knife in hand.

"N-No. Chibisuke…" Ryoga moved from where he was lying. He saw Kimi pick Ryoma up by his throat getting ready to stab him. "DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!" he jumped from his spot and tackled Kimi. He was a little surprised when he was actually able to touch her seeing that she was a ghost. The knife that was in her hand felt to the floor along with Ryoma.

Ryoga and Kimi landed a few feet away from Ryoma. Ryoga was sitting on Kimi, refusing to let her up. "Don't you dare touch my brother."

"Stupid boy." Kimi faded through the floor and reappeared behind Ryoga.

Echizen's head hurt like he had been hit with a crowbar. His arm stung and had started bleeding again from under the bandages. He looked at his surroundings; everywhere was dark except for soft glows of color by the bodies of his sempai-tachi. He for sure didn't know where they were but knew something was wrong. He didn't move except to look around. He looked in front of himself and saw Ryoga suspended from the ground with Kimi's arm attached to his neck.

'_Aniki!'_ he motioned to get up but heard Aya's voice in his head.

"_Echizen-kun, the jewelry. Get rid of it." _Her voice was ragged and strained.

Echizen saw the necklace, ring and bracelet on the ground in front of him and the knife next to them.

"How dare you try to keep our family apart. Who do you think you are?" Kimi's hand tightened around his next. Ryoga tried to answer but his lack of air was hindering his speech. She was just about to take a second knife and stab Ryoga but she stopped and looked at Echizen. He was lying on the floor with a broken ring and bracelet.

"H-He is… my brother." He was holding the knife in his hand and the necklace on the ground with the other.

"D-Dai-kun, what are you doing?" she dropped Ryoga and walked to Echizen. "Don't you want to be together?"

"There is one thing wrong with what you want to do; I'm _not_ your brother." He brought the knife down on the pendent from the necklace and it shattered. Kimi screamed. The darkness that surrounded everyone was gone and they all found themselves outside in the backyard. Everyone got up and watched as Kimi stood there screaming. She suddenly burst into flames. She looked like she was crying and stared at Echizen.

"Dai-kun…" she reached for him. A cold wind blew and she propelled off with the wind. All that was left was a little bit of ash that covered a thin layer of the snow on the ground.

Echizen sat in the snow. The knife in his hand vanished with Kimi and he was left with bits and pieces of broken jewelry. He sighed with relief. It was like a huge weight was lifted from his chest and it had just gotten easier to breathe. Everyone got up and went to him.

"Echizen!/Ochibi!/Chibisuke!"

"Echizen-kun, are you alright?" Aya asked as she knelt next to him.

"Ah. I'm fine." He looked at the remains of gold and silver metal in his hands. "Why didn't you disappear?"

"You still hold on to my precious object." She pointed to the necklace he was wearing. "You need to get rid of that for me to go."

He grabbed the necklace. "Will… will you go like she did?"

Aya smiled and shook her head. "No. I want to pass. Kimi was attached by unnatural causes and refused and her passing was painful but seeing that I have no objections, it should be painless."

Echizen took the necklace off and laid it in his hand. He didn't want her to go. He wanted her to stay and be with them but he knew it wasn't the right thing. His fist curled in rage around the necklace and a few silent tears fell. He felt a hand on top of his own and looked up to see Aya crouching in front of him.

"It's alright Echizen-kun. I'll be fine." A hand went on top of hers.

"Come on Chibisuke. She's been waiting a long time."

Echizen wiped his tears and gathered the remains of the broken jewelry and everyone went inside. The fire was larger than usual in the living room. Everyone was on the couches and chairs around it trying to keep warm. Ryoma, Ryoga and Aya sat immediately in front of it on the brick.

"Don't worry Chibisuke. She'll be fine."

"Echizen-kun, it's time."

Echizen took the bits of gold and silver from his pockets and more than happily threw them in the fire but hesitated when he had to throw Aya's necklace. He sat for about a minute just looking at it. He never really noticed the design on it and the unique pattern it made. He kept the urge to cry inside and threw the necklace into the fire.

Aya began to shine and she lit up the room. Everyone but Echizen covered their eyes to some extent but he was in awe at how beautiful and at peace she looked. She walked over to him and smiled.

"Thank you, Echizen-kun."

Echizen smiled back and let a single tear run down his face. "Ah. Sayonara, Aya-san."

The glow faded and the room darkened again.

* * *

"I didn't get any sleep last night."

"Me neither."

"Why? What happened?"

"Niou-sempai wouldn't stop talking about everything that happened and needed me to reference things for him."

"Saa, sounds interesting. What about you Momo?"

"Kirihara was too scared and wouldn't let me turn the light off until it was really last and when I finally did, he stayed up and played games on his phone."

Kaidou, Momo and Fuji were waiting outside with everyone for the bus to come talking about everything that had happened in the week they spent in that house.

"Maybe you should have used one of those eye mask things to help you sleep." Jackal said.

"What? Only girls and Inui-sempai use those things!" Momo retorted careful with his wording so he wouldn't become a test subject.

"Do you think anyone will believe us when we get back?" Kikumaru asked.

"No one will believe because no one will know about it." Tezuka said.

"Why is that?" Taka asked.

"Think about it; two rival tennis teams go to a cabin in the middle of the forest and come back saying it's haunted. Does that really sound like something you want everyone to know?" Yukimura said.

"I guess not…"

"But what's the harm in telling someone if they don't believe us in the first place?" Oishi asked.

"I think it's the punishment that comes if you tell." Niou whispered tossing a glance to Tezuka and Sanada.

"Fsshhh… where's the bus already?" Kirihara complained.

"Where's Echizen and Ryoga-san?" Hiroshi asked.

"We'll be down in a minute!" Ryoga shouted to them through an open window.

"Those two always take their time don't they?" Renji said writing in his notebook.

"About 96.3% of the time." Inui said.

* * *

"Come on Chibisuke. The bus will be here any minute." Ryoga said going from room to room making sure everyone had all their things and all the windows were shut properly.

Ryoma ignored his brother's shouts. He was packed and ready to go. He just want to take everything in and enjoy it seeing as he couldn't quite do that during the week.

"Hurry up. Bring your things downstairs." Ryoga went in the room, grabbed his bags and took them outside where everyone else was. "And close the door when you're done."

"Hai, hai. Urasai, baka aniki." He said under his breath. He grabbed his things and slowly started walking down the hall and the stairs. He wasn't paying any attention so he didn't notice a figure waiting for him until he was exactly in front of it.

"So young man, how did you enjoy your stay at Kainite Manor?"

Echizen smirked. "I think I'll visit again in the future."

* * *

**Oh my god. Finally. 00:00 exactly October 28, 2012 and it's finally done. **_**What the hell took you so long?! We've been waiting over a month!**_** I know and I hate myself for it! But between school, practice and work I haven't had that much time to work on it but I took every minute of my free time and worked on it and it got done.**

**There you have it. The last chapter. This might be the longest chapter I've written for any of my fics but that's still not a reason why it took so long. I am soooooo sorry! I will never take this long to update ever again. The main reason is because of my English teacher. He make us do an essay like every week and we had four due this past week and that is what my life has consisted of ever since the start of school in September.**

**Okay well, did you like?! I wanted to make it uber awesome and have an awesome end scene but I couldn't put my thoughts onto paper and didn't want to make you guys wait any longer. Review this chapter and tell me what you thought of the story as a whole!**

**Forgive stupid mistakes!**

**Next fic will be about Batman and Robin! See ya!**


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